TREASURE hunters and smugglers of monuments of culture will be fined between 1,000 and 10,000 leva if they breach the new Culture Monument Bill approved by Parliament last Thursday.
The Director of the National Centre for Museums, Galleries and Fine Arts, Boris Danailov said fines would be doubled for second-time offenders.
Fines in the current law vary between 50 and 1,000 leva and no differentiation is made between people and legal entities.
“The bill gives a new definition of ‘monument of culture’, which borrows from the European practice,” Danailov said. He believes that having this definition will prevent further illegal treasure hunting.
“Until now when somebody is caught with all the excavation instruments and an artifact in his pocket, he has a 99 per cent chance to get away with it,” Danailov said. Danailov explained that at present the onus was on the authorities to prove that items found in the possession of a suspect were cultural artifacts.
They could not do so, because under a 1969 law, an artifact has the status of a cultural monument only if it has been entered in the artifact book of a museum.
According to the bill, opening of private museums where moveable culture monuments of private collections will be displayed will be also possible.
Immovable culture monuments will be public Government property and concessions may be sold for them.
Concessions may not be sold for monuments of culture that are on the world heritage list or are under UNESCO protection. The Boyana Church in Sofia, the Madara Horseman near Shoumen and the Thracian burial vault in Kazanluk are such Bulgarian sites.
The holder of a monument concession will be required to invest in the maintenance of the site.
“I consider concession of culture monuments a very positive way for finance granting in the fields of research, restoration and conservation of the monuments,” said Bozhidar Dimitrov, head of the National History Museum in Sofia.
Culture monuments that are included in the main museum’s register may not be traded. A clause in the bill requires registration and regular updating of the information on the items in private collections of culture monuments. Once an individual registers a culture monument he possesses, he will be free to trade it.
“It is much better than having collectors buy and then smuggle out of the country,” Danailov said.
There is also a proposal for changes in the Penal Code where particularly serious violations of the culture monuments legislation will carry a prison sentence of three to 10 years on conviction.
The Director of the National Centre for Museums, Galleries and Fine Arts, Boris Danailov said fines would be doubled for second-time offenders.
Fines in the current law vary between 50 and 1,000 leva and no differentiation is made between people and legal entities.
“The bill gives a new definition of ‘monument of culture’, which borrows from the European practice,” Danailov said. He believes that having this definition will prevent further illegal treasure hunting.
“Until now when somebody is caught with all the excavation instruments and an artifact in his pocket, he has a 99 per cent chance to get away with it,” Danailov said. Danailov explained that at present the onus was on the authorities to prove that items found in the possession of a suspect were cultural artifacts.
They could not do so, because under a 1969 law, an artifact has the status of a cultural monument only if it has been entered in the artifact book of a museum.
According to the bill, opening of private museums where moveable culture monuments of private collections will be displayed will be also possible.
Immovable culture monuments will be public Government property and concessions may be sold for them.
Concessions may not be sold for monuments of culture that are on the world heritage list or are under UNESCO protection. The Boyana Church in Sofia, the Madara Horseman near Shoumen and the Thracian burial vault in Kazanluk are such Bulgarian sites.
The holder of a monument concession will be required to invest in the maintenance of the site.
“I consider concession of culture monuments a very positive way for finance granting in the fields of research, restoration and conservation of the monuments,” said Bozhidar Dimitrov, head of the National History Museum in Sofia.
Culture monuments that are included in the main museum’s register may not be traded. A clause in the bill requires registration and regular updating of the information on the items in private collections of culture monuments. Once an individual registers a culture monument he possesses, he will be free to trade it.
“It is much better than having collectors buy and then smuggle out of the country,” Danailov said.
There is also a proposal for changes in the Penal Code where particularly serious violations of the culture monuments legislation will carry a prison sentence of three to 10 years on conviction.
