MA in Art Law and Arts Management > Cultural property regulation and national and international heritage legislation. International protection of cultural property

Cultural property regulation and national and international heritage legislation. International protection of cultural property

Teaching hours and credit allocation: 44 hours, 8 credits

This module aims to examine the emerging areas of cultural property and heritage law from legal, social, theoretical and practice-oriented perspectives. The module starts with an overview describing the notions of cultural property and cultural heritage, as well as the whole system of protection that has been developed in the last century. It then examines international conventions, relevant EU regulations and directives, as well as the interaction of the instruments aforementioned. The module will focus on the protection of cultural property in times of peace, and essentially deal with the movement, trading and restitution/return of stolen or illicitly exported cultural property. At the end, the relevant legislation in Greece is presented and put in relation to the international and European legal instruments. Specific cases and paradigms, as well as evolution and basic trends in the field will be analyzed.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this module, students are expected to be able to:

  • Understand the notion of cultural property and the distinction between cultural property and cultural heritage
  • Understand the overall system of protection of cultural property and cultural heritage
  • Identify the significance and basic issues enshrined in the most important international treaties (the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property, and the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on stolen or illegally exported cultural property)
  • Recognize the relevance and role of the European Union Law for the protection of cultural property (e.g. the free movement of goods and the ‘national treasures’ exception, Regulation 3911/92 (repealed by Regulation 116/2009), Regulation 752/93 and Directive 93/7/EEC)
  • Understand the interaction of the above legal instruments
  • Appreciate the role of soft law instruments (like codes of ethics developed by UNESCO, ICOMOS and other international organisations and NGO)
  • Become familiar  with international institutions and organizations active in the area of cultural property protection
  • Make policy decisions when it comes to disputes concerning cultural property and cultural heritage

Content

  • The notions of ‘cultural property’ and ‘cultural heritage’
  • The theories of cultural nationalism and cultural internationalism
  • The overall system of protection of cultural property and cultural heritage
  • The protection of cultural property against illicit export or removal
  • The restitution and return of cultural property
  • Immunity from seizure of works of art on loan from abroad
  • Dispute resolution in cultural property cases (judicial recourse, alternative dispute resolution, arbitration, mediation, negotiations, cultural diplomacy)
  • Greek legislation in the field (ratification of international conventions,  and harmonization of EU directives into the Greek legal order)
  • Case Studies