Culture policy

Home page

Culture policy

Azerbaijan defines concepts of damaging cultural assets and destroying cultural assets

05 December 2025 11:39 (UTC +04:00)

The concepts of damaging cultural assets and destroying cultural assets are defined, APA reports.

This is reflected in the proposed amendment to the “Law on Culture,” which was discussed at the joint meeting of Parliamentary Committees on Law Policy and State Building and on Culture.

According to the draft, the following concepts are added to the law:

- creative person – an individual engaged in the creation of cultural assets, including pedagogical or scientific-research activities in the field of culture;

- damaging cultural assets – committing illegal interventions or other unlawful acts that lead to the partial loss of the historical and cultural value of cultural assets, changes in their artistic-aesthetic appearance, distortion of their original condition, transformation into a new structure, or partial unfitness.

-destroying cultural assets – the illegal destruction, fragmentation, burning, explosion, or other unlawful methods of affecting cultural assets that result in the permanent loss of their value or complete unfitness where restoring their original condition is impossible.

Cultural assets are protected by the state in accordance with the procedures determined by the relevant executive authority, through preventive measures, conservation, restoration, and the application of special protection levels.

It is prohibited to damage or destroy cultural assets protected by the state, to move them elsewhere without the consent of the authority (institution) determined by the relevant executive body, as well as to carry out construction-installation, restoration, reconstruction, conservation works, or landscaping activities that violate their integrity and create a threat to them.

According to the draft, taking into account Article 39.2 of this Law, damaging or destroying cultural assets protected by the state, moving them elsewhere without the consent of the authority (institution) determined by the relevant executive body, as well as carrying out construction-installation, restoration, reconstruction, conservation works, or landscaping activities that violate their integrity and create a threat to them, will not be allowed.

According to the current law, the concept of a creative person used in the Law means an individual engaged in the creation of cultural assets, including pedagogical or scientific-research activities in the field of culture.

According to the current law, for protection purposes, preventive measures, conservation, restoration, and special protection levels are applied to cultural assets in accordance with the procedures determined by the relevant executive authority.

It is prohibited to dismantle, destroy, fragment, restructure, move elsewhere, or alter the appearance of cultural assets to which the preventive protection level has been applied without the consent of the authority (institution) determined by the relevant executive body.

In the field of culture, taking into account Article 39.2 of this Law, dismantling, destroying, fragmenting, restructuring, moving elsewhere, or altering the appearance of cultural assets is not allowed.