2025-06-04
We still fail to ensure that UNESCO sites in Lithuania are adequately protected. This was pointed out by the auditors presenting the results of the assessment Management and protection of UNESCO World Heritage Sites to the Seimas Committee on Culture.
Between 1994 and 2023, five Lithuanian sites have been inscribed on the UNESCO Tangible World Heritage List: the Historical Centre of Vilnius, the Curonian Spit, the Kernavė Archaeological Site, the Struve Geodesic Arc, and the Modernist Kaunas: the Optimist Architecture, 1919-1939. The Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of the Environment are responsible for the protection of the sites.
"UNESCO World Heritage status is not just about the visibility of a country. It is also a commitment that these values will be subject to additional protection requirements. Unfortunately, we are still failing to do this. If we do not comply with the higher requirements for the protection of UNESCO World Heritage Sites than for national properties, we may not be able to preserve them for future generations," said Auditor General Irena Segalovičienė.
The auditors found that only one of Lithuania's five UNESCO sites, the Kernavė Archaeological Site, has a management plan approved so far, and that monitoring of the real cultural heritage does not reveal the true state of the sites: 88% of the sites were assessed as being in an unchanged state in the period from 2021-2024. This means that it is not known which sites are in poor or emergency condition and measures should already be taken.
Photo from the NAOL archive