Lithuania has a Register of Cultural Property in which cultural properties are listed when they require legal protection. The register contains both movable and immovable heritage properties. Immovable heritage properties in the register are classified as cultural monuments, state-protected objects, municipal-protected objects, and registered properties that have not yet been assigned protection status. The register is constantly updated and revised. In 2025, the Lithuanian Register of Cultural Property contained information about 26,481 immovable cultural heritage objects (individual and complex objects and cultural heritage sites) and about 11,022 movable cultural properties. 8,155 immovable cultural heritage objects are on the list of state-protected cultural heritage objects approved by the Minister of Culture, and 2,355 cultural heritage objects are declared national monuments by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania.
Table 7: Number of state-protected cultural heritage units and monuments of cultural heritage in 2017–2025
|
Number Year |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|
State protected cultural heritage (units) |
8 139 |
8 189 |
8 210 |
8 221 |
8 175 |
8162 |
8187 |
8159 |
8155 |
|
National Monuments (movable and immovable heritage) |
2 297 |
2 298 |
2 299 |
2 300 |
2 422 |
2 428 |
2439 |
2450 |
2450 |
Source: Official Statistics Portal
According to the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, the State is responsible for the protection of Lithuania’s monuments of history and art as well as other cultural monuments and property. The purpose of protecting cultural heritage in the Republic of Lithuania is its preservation and transfer to future generations.
Legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania distinguish between immovable and movable cultural heritage. The protection of immovable cultural heritage is guaranteed by the Law on Protection of Immovable Cultural Heritage (1994). This law defines cultural heritage as “the cultural property inherited, taken over, created and transmitted from generation to generation and significant from the ethnic, historical, aesthetic or scientific point of view”.
The legal act regulating the protection of movable cultural property is the Law on Protection of Movable Cultural Property (1996). Movable cultural property is defined in this Law as “material creations and other objects which are movable based on their designation and nature, hold cultural value and are listed in the State inventories of movable cultural property”. Immovable and movable cultural property is inscribed in the State Register of Cultural Property.
The heritage policy in Lithuania is shaped and implemented by the Ministry of Culture, the Department of Cultural Heritage, the National Commission for Cultural Heritage, and municipalities. The Ministry of Culture organises state administration for the protection of movable and immovable cultural heritage and is in charge thereof. The Department of Cultural Heritage under the Ministry of Culture performs the functions of the protection of immovable cultural heritage and movable cultural properties assigned to it by laws and other legal acts; these functions include maintenance and management of cultural properties, maintenance of accounting and control of cultural heritage, as well as presentation of cultural heritage to the society; the Department also contributes to the formation and implementation of national policies in the area of protection of cultural heritage. The Department is a founder of the state-funded institution, the Centre of Cultural Heritage, which collects and accumulates information on cultural heritage as well as conducts historical and physical research. Another state institution, the Cultural Infrastructure Centre acts as a commissioner of the reconstruction and modernisation works needed for the cultural objects and other institutions under the Ministry of Culture.
The National Commission for Cultural Heritage is the expert and adviser to the Parliament, the President of the Republic, and the Government regarding national policy issues on the protection of immovable cultural heritage. The activities of the Heritage Commission are regulated by the Law of the National Commission for Cultural Heritage (2004). The main mission of the Heritage Commission is to participate in the formation of a policy and strategy for the protection of cultural heritage, to inform the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, the President and the Government about the problems regarding heritage protection, and to prepare draft legal acts related to heritage protection.
Despite this extensive institutional system for the protection and maintenance of heritage, heritage policy is the most challenging area of cultural policy in Lithuania due to the insufficient state funding and frequent changes in legislation. For example, between 1997 and 2022, a total of 24 editions of the Law on the Protection of Immovable Cultural Heritage were drafted. Such frequent changes to the Law make the implementation of this Law, as well as its alignment with other laws, very complicated. Funding for the Heritage Maintenance Programme performed by the Department of Cultural Heritage has decreased in recent years, although state budget revenues have increased. According to the National Commission of Cultural Heritage, in 2021, resources needed for reimbursement of the costs of cultural heritage maintenance works to the managers were 4-5 times higher than the allocated state appropriations for Heritage Maintenance Programme.
Municipalities of the Republic of Lithuania also take part in the heritage policy. They have the heritage protection divisions that perform certain functions for the protection of immovable cultural heritage provided for by law; they also issue the sets of conditions for designing protected structures and structures in the territories of protected objects as well as at protected sites, organise the approval of design documentation for the aforementioned structures as well as grant permits to build, reconstruct, repair or demolish the aforementioned structures in accordance with the procedure laid down by the legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania. In 2023, the National Commission for Cultural Heritage performed an Analysis of the Activities of Municipalities in the Field of Cultural Heritage Protection in 2023. According to the analysis, there is a consistent trend of increasing funding for cultural heritage in municipalities. It has been observed for many years and continued in 2023, as half of the municipalities allocated more funds for heritage than in previous years.
Figure 4. Municipal funding allocated to cultural heritage in 1997–2023.
Source: Analysis of the Activities of Municipalities in the Field of Cultural Heritage Protection in 2023.
In the last decade, the most discussed issue in the field of heritage policy is the legacy of the Soviet era. The main opposing sides in these discussions are members of the academic community and representatives of various political and patriotic NGOs. From the point of view of the latter, the Soviet legacy is a glorification of that era and should therefore be removed from the public spaces of Lithuanian towns and cities. The academic community, meanwhile, argues that heritage protection policy should be guided by the principle of the irreversibility of the past and protect the heritage as it is, and not as we would like it to be; cultural heritage must not serve political or ideological interests (see also Chapter 2.9).
Museums
Lithuanian museum infrastructure consists of national, state, municipal, departmental and private or non-state-owned museums. According to the data of the Ministry of Culture, in 2024, there were 111 museums in Lithuania that submitted reports to the Ministry of Culture: 4 national, 16 state, 54 municipal, and 37 departmental. In 2024, the collections of Lithuanian museums contained 8 193 617 museum objects. That year, museums acquired 120 655 objects (in 2023, 133 893 objects were acquired). In 2024, Lithuanian museums welcomed 5 940 180 visitors, which is 3 per cent more than in 2023 (2023 – 5 757 057; 2022 – 4 968 334). This figure includes individual and group visitors, visitors to collections, participants in educational activities, and attendees of museum-organised events. It was a record year for museum attendance (the previous record was 5 757 057 visitors in 2023). The increase in visitor numbers was significantly influenced by major international exhibitions and other events organised by the museums that attracted considerable public interest.
Table 8: Number of exhibits stored in museums in 2024
|
Type of museums |
Number of exhibits |
|
National museums |
2 319 322 |
|
State museums |
2 762 707 |
|
Municipal museums |
2 251 291 |
|
Departmental museums |
860 297
|
Source: Lithuanian Museums Database
Table 9: Number of museums visitors in 2016–2024
|
Number Year |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
Number of museums visitors (in thousands) |
3 981 |
4 152 |
5 026 |
5 588 |
2 837 |
3 186
|
4 968 |
5 757 |
5 945 |
|
Average number of visitors per museum (in thousands) |
38,7 |
41,5 |
50,3 |
52,2 |
26,8 |
30,1 |
45,2 |
51,9 |
53,5 |
Source: Statistics Lithuania
The policy of museums in Lithuania is shaped and implemented by the Ministry of Culture, the Council of Museums and the Lithuanian Council for Culture. According to the Law on Museums, the Ministry of Culture outlines the strategy of the activity of national and state museums, prepares programmes for the implementation of the strategy and submits them to the Government; prepares drafts of legal acts regulating the activity of museums and submits them to the Government for adoption; coordinates the activity of Lithuanian museums, their participation in cross-border museological programmes; checks how objects stored at museums are accounted for and protected; provides funds for the key programmes of museum activity, restoration and scientific research; appoints, through a public competition, and dismisses the directors of national and state museums whose owner’s rights and obligations are implemented by the Ministry of Culture; appoints, through a public competition, and dismisses the deputy directors – chief curators – of national and state museums whose owner’s rights and obligations are implemented by the Ministry of Culture; arranges the professional development of museum curators and restorers; at the order of the Minister of Culture compiles the list of paid services provided by museums within the competence of the Ministry of Culture. The Council of Museums acts as an expert and consultant on issues related to the formulation and implementation of museum policy.
The Lithuanian Council for Culture provides funding for museums’ educational and other projects. In 2024, the Council allocated EUR 593 300 for 53 museum projects. Lithuanian museums also participate in the heritage digitisation program. According to the Heritage Digitisation Statistics database, in 2024, Lithuanian museums had 1 305 370 digitised objects in their databases or in VEPIS (valstybės elektroninio paveldo informacinė sistema – State Electronic Heritage Information System).
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