Od Kodeksu Teodozjusza do konwencji z Nikozji – ochrona dziedzictwa kultury jako narzędzie sekularyzacji
From the Codex Theodosianus to the Nicosia Convention: The protection of cultural heritage as a means of secularisation

Summary/Abstract: This article tries to present the establishing process of cultural heritage in a broader perspective, in which national legal regulations are only indicators of some general tendencies. It focuses particularly on the transformation of religious sites and objects into legally protected cultural heritage. The main thesis of this article is that the process of “heritagisation” of religion-related artifacts can be considered a political means of secularisation. Therefore, this discussion forms part of heritological research. Among others, this article aims to answer two main questions. What happens when religious sites, objects, and practices become heritage? Is it possible to extract a functional path in legal regulations giving an account of the protection of religious artifacts as cultural heritage in European history that changed their social perception? Is the “heritagisation” of religious objects equal to their conscious secular “patrimonialisation”, or is secularisation just a side-effect of their being protected by legal regulations?

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