Cultural Landscape and Legislation - The Case of Croatia

Croatia has many diverse cultural landscapes, but awareness of their existence is very low. Landscapes are given over to developmental succession, loss of identity, unsuitable repair and degradation. Joining the European Union commits us to establishing effective implementation and measures of protection. Major European and local research on the topic of cultural landscapes was analyzed in the paper, as well as relevant legal documents and international conventions. By comparing foreign and local experience, the effectiveness of our legislation in the field of cultural landscape and landscape in general, the use of their protection, and awareness of their values is analyzed. The analysis indicates an absence of a basic document that would deal with the systematic protection of landscape overall, despite the signing of the Convention on European Landscapes. Guidelines for the preservation of cultural landscapes, which were outlined in several national strategies and legal acts in the last decade, have not taken hold nor have they been applied. In comparison to Croatia, most European countries have enviously more developed systems of protection of cultural landscapes. National and regional atlases of cultural landscapes have been made, and there is a strong trend of user involvement in the management of the areas.