Management of cultural heritage in Norway, actors and responsibilities

Ministry of Climate and Environment

The Ministry of Climate and Environment is responsible for the management of cultural monuments, sites, environments and landscapes in Norway.

The Ministry is the appeals body for individual decisions made by the Directorate for Cultural Heritage.

The Directorate for Cultural Heritage

is a specialist directorate and adviser to the Ministry of Climate and Environment in all matters concerning cultural monuments, sites, environments and landscapes, and:

• is responsible for the overall and comprehensive national cultural environment policy decided by the Storting and the government
• has administrative responsibility for selected cultural monuments, sites and environments
• has the authority to protect cultural monuments and sites through individual decisions or regulations
• serves as the national coordinator for compliance with the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, and the 1999 Protocol (UNESCO)
• has the authority to object to planning applications if national cultural environment interests are at risk
• is the appeals body for individual decisions by county authorities under the Cultural Heritage Act
• has the authority to grant exemptions for selected cultural monuments, sites and environments
• has the authority to make decisions on the scope and costs of archaeological investigations
• is responsible for the Church Preservation Fund, which administers grants for culturally and historically significant churches
• has decision-making authority for automatically protected churches and acts as an adviser for the church’s approval body on matters related to listed churches
• is responsible for the Askeladden system, the official national database for cultural environment data
• is responsible for managing and developing digital services that support the work of cultural environment management and help foster uniform practices.

County authorities/Sámi Parliament

• responsible for cultural environments in the counties, and for cultural environments in Sámi areas
• decision-making authority under the Cultural Heritage Act
• shall ensure that cultural environments are factored into planning, including at the municipal level
• can prepare cases for the Directorate for Cultural Heritage
• the county authorities are responsible for leading the work on regional planning strategies, regional plans and regional planning provisions

Municipal authorities

• are responsible for safeguarding and facilitating the use of cultural monuments, sites, environments and landscapes in land use and social planning. The Planning and Building Act is the primary legal instrument, but municipal authorities also have other measures at their disposal, such as grants and property tax exemptions.
• some urban municipal authorities have a cultural heritage manager, and some have positions that carry out similar tasks.

Governor of Svalbard

Cultural environment management on the Svalbard islands is administered by the Governor of Svalbard, as stipulated in the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act.

The archaeological museums

The archaeological museums serve as the Directorate for Cultural Heritage’s specialist advisory bodies on cultural monuments and sites of archaeological significance, both on land and underwater. Cultural monuments and archaeological sites are automatically protected under the Cultural Heritage Act. Excavations can only be carried out after an exemption from preservation regulations has been granted.

• Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo
• Museum of Archaeology, University of Stavanger
• University of Bergen
• NTNU University Museum, Trondheim
• The Arctic University Museum of Norway , Tromsø

Museums that are responsible for underwater archaeology:

• Norwegian Maritime Museum, Oslo
• Stavanger Maritime Museum
• Bergen Maritime Museum
• NTNU University Museum, Trondheim
• The Arctic university Museum of Norway, Tromsø

Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU)

NIKU studies cultural monuments and archaeological sites from the Middle Ages. This includes church grounds, monasteries, fortifications and Norway’s eight medieval towns (Bergen, Hamar, Oslo, Sarpsborg, Skien, Stavanger, Trondheim and Tønsberg).

See the regulation on determining authority and the Cultural Heritage Act for detailed information about mandates and regulations within cultural environment management.

White paper 16 – New goals for Norway’s Cultural Environment Policy

In this white paper, ‘cultural environment’ was introduced as a collective term for cultural monuments, sites, environments and landscapes. The term emphasises the value of a holistic understanding and contextual coherence, and clarifies the link to the broader climate and environmental policy framework.

The cultural environment encompasses all traces of human activity and history in the physical environment. It can range from churches and dairy farms to Stone Age settlements and prison of war camps from World War II. Or a landscape formed by the cumulative impact of centuries of agricultural work. These traces are resources for knowledge, experiences and use, both now and in the future.

Read the white paper at regjeringen.no

The management of environmental issues under the Ministry of Climate and Environment consists of the following:

The Species Name Database, a national knowledge base relating to biodiversity in Norway.

The Norwegian Meteorological Institute, responsible for the official meteorological service for civil and military purposes.

The Norwegian Environment Agency, plays a key role in the management of Norway’s natural environment and in preventing pollution.

The Norwegian Cultural Heritage Fund, a grant scheme for the preservation of cultural monuments, sites and environments.

The Norwegian Polar Institute, the central government institution responsible for mapping and conducting practical and scientific studies in the polar regions, and it also serves as a specialist and strategic adviser to the central government on polar matters.

The Directorate for Cultural Heritage, the government agency for the management of the cultural environment and serves as the Ministry of Climate and Environment’s advisory and executive body in this area.

The Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund, established under the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act, and its resources are solely for use for environment protection measures on the Svalbard islands.