Burials in the crypts of churches form the subject of several fields and sciences. Therefore, on the one hand, complex and interdisciplinary access is necessary to investigate and preserve crypts. On the other hand, this makes their definition as a heritage object really complicated. Paradoxically, the complexity of the subject resulted in “scattering” the requirements set to its protection in several legal acts. It falls into the “jurisdiction” of movable and immovable cultural heritage, and on the whole, sometimes it becomes unclear to which type of heritage the burials and the remains of the buried are to be attributed.
The Law on Protection of Movable Cultural Property of the Republic of Lithuania defines the movable cultural property as “material creations and other objects which are movable based on their designation and nature, resulting from public and individual activity and possessing considerable cultural value, including those of importance in an ethnic, archaeological, historical, artistic, scientific, technical, religious and another sense and also, insofar as they describe typical, as well as specific, phenomena of national existence and are included in the State records of movable cultural property”1“Lietuvos Respublikos kilnojamųjų kultūros vertybių apsaugos įstatymas”, Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, 23.01.1996, No. I-1179, Teisės aktų registras, article 2, [accessed 01.09.2018], [electronic], available at: www.e-tar.lt/portal/lt/legalAct/TAR.C5DA698A4015/pKaVmfKXyY.. In 2018, eleven sarcophagi of the noblemen and bishops were entered in the Register of Cultural Property as movable cultural property2Kultūros vertybių registras. Kilnojamųjų kultūros vertybių paieška, [accessed 08.10.2018], [electronic], available at: https://kvr.kpd.lt/#/search-results/sarkofag//////////12.. The latter are attributed to the group of sepulchral works (works of art related to tombs and immortalization of the memory of the deceased3 Cyril M. Harris, Iliustruotas architektūros istorijos žodynas, Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidykla, 2007, p. 460.) that are valued for their artistic, historical and memorial features. Parts of coffins (for example, the end boards of the coffins of Bishop Józef Stanisław Sapieha (1708-1754), Bishop Michał Jan Zienkowicz (died in 1769) and an unknown bishop) are also attributed to movable cultural property4Kultūros vertybių registras. Kilnojamųjų kultūros vertybių paieška, [accessed 08.10.2018], [electronic], available at: https://kvr.kpd.lt/#/search-results/karst//////////7.. In the case under discussion a sarcophagus or a part of a coffin rather than the remains of the person contained therein, is considered a cultural property, therefore its documentation in the Register of Cultural Property do not contain any data about the buried people.
However, burials in the crypts of the churches are also entered in the Register of Cultural Property as valuable properties of immovable cultural heritage objects (of churches or archeological sites)5“Lietuvos Respublikos nekilnojamojo kultūros paveldo apsaugos įstatymas”, Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, 22.12.1994, No. I-733, Teisės aktų registras, article 2, [accessed 01.09.2018], [electronic], available at: www.e-tar.lt/portal/lt/legalAct/TAR.9BC8AEE9D9F8/rLJnTLpKyB.. In some cases relevant data are presented in more detail6For example, “Varnių Šv. apaštalų Petro ir Pauliaus bažnyčios statinių kompleksas, u. k. 1683”, Kultūros vertybių registras. Nekilnojamųjų kultūros vertybių paieška, [accessed 14.09.2019], [electronic], available at: https://kvr.kpd.lt/#/static-heritage-detail/92665403-e58c-47b5-a25c-cb69eeaba422; “Dubingių piliavietė, vad. Pilies kalnu, u. k. 5361”, Kultūros vertybių registras. Nekilnojamųjų kultūros vertybių paieška, [accessed 14.09.2019], [electronic], available at: https://kvr.kpd.lt/#/static-heritage-detail/be0a2945-4f0c-46cd-8c20-67a0a0182476.; however, most frequently either a mere fact of the presence of burials or the remains is specified, or it is not mentioned at all7For example, “Šv. apašt. Jokūbo bažnyčia, u. k. 1619”, Kultūros vertybių registras. Nekilnojamųjų kultūros vertybių paieška, [accessed 14.09.2019], [electronic], available at: https://kvr.kpd.lt/#/static-heritage-detail/f596fcaf-0efb-4496-a50c-b8da06b57af4.. In case this system is followed, provided the object whose component is a burial in a crypt is not entered in the Register of Cultural Property, on the whole it is impossible to record this burial as valuable property, i.e. there is no possibility to officially record it as heritage.
Hence, it is in the registration of heritage – at the very beginning of the heritage protection chain – that a systematic approach to burials in church crypts is lacking. It is not surprising that other stages of heritage protection –carrying out research and management works – also are devoid of this approach.
Justina Poškienė
1. | ↑ | “Lietuvos Respublikos kilnojamųjų kultūros vertybių apsaugos įstatymas”, Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, 23.01.1996, No. I-1179, Teisės aktų registras, article 2, [accessed 01.09.2018], [electronic], available at: www.e-tar.lt/portal/lt/legalAct/TAR.C5DA698A4015/pKaVmfKXyY. |
2. | ↑ | Kultūros vertybių registras. Kilnojamųjų kultūros vertybių paieška, [accessed 08.10.2018], [electronic], available at: https://kvr.kpd.lt/#/search-results/sarkofag//////////12. |
3. | ↑ | Cyril M. Harris, Iliustruotas architektūros istorijos žodynas, Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidykla, 2007, p. 460. |
4. | ↑ | Kultūros vertybių registras. Kilnojamųjų kultūros vertybių paieška, [accessed 08.10.2018], [electronic], available at: https://kvr.kpd.lt/#/search-results/karst//////////7. |
5. | ↑ | “Lietuvos Respublikos nekilnojamojo kultūros paveldo apsaugos įstatymas”, Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, 22.12.1994, No. I-733, Teisės aktų registras, article 2, [accessed 01.09.2018], [electronic], available at: www.e-tar.lt/portal/lt/legalAct/TAR.9BC8AEE9D9F8/rLJnTLpKyB. |
6. | ↑ | For example, “Varnių Šv. apaštalų Petro ir Pauliaus bažnyčios statinių kompleksas, u. k. 1683”, Kultūros vertybių registras. Nekilnojamųjų kultūros vertybių paieška, [accessed 14.09.2019], [electronic], available at: https://kvr.kpd.lt/#/static-heritage-detail/92665403-e58c-47b5-a25c-cb69eeaba422; “Dubingių piliavietė, vad. Pilies kalnu, u. k. 5361”, Kultūros vertybių registras. Nekilnojamųjų kultūros vertybių paieška, [accessed 14.09.2019], [electronic], available at: https://kvr.kpd.lt/#/static-heritage-detail/be0a2945-4f0c-46cd-8c20-67a0a0182476. |
7. | ↑ | For example, “Šv. apašt. Jokūbo bažnyčia, u. k. 1619”, Kultūros vertybių registras. Nekilnojamųjų kultūros vertybių paieška, [accessed 14.09.2019], [electronic], available at: https://kvr.kpd.lt/#/static-heritage-detail/f596fcaf-0efb-4496-a50c-b8da06b57af4. |