Act on the Protection of Historical Monuments and Heritage (DHG) - Purpose (DHG)

1. This law aims at the preservation, protection, and safeguarding of townscapes and cultural monuments.

1. The canton and municipalities, in collaboration with owners and users, shall ensure the protection, preservation, and maintenance of cultural monuments as part of the cultural heritage.

2. The canton and municipalities shall promote the proper maintenance and scientific research of cultural monuments.

3. Cultural monuments should be preserved in their historical context as much as possible.

4. Cultural monuments may be adapted to fit the needs of modern living and use, for their existing purposes or suitably new purposes, taking into account their value.

5. Specialized inventories, as well as the results of scientific research on cultural monuments, shall be published.

1. The canton ensures the preservation of the Bottmingen and Wildenstein castles (including the estate) and guarantees their public accessibility.

1. Protected Objects are cultural monuments in which there is a significant public interest in preservation due to their cultural, historical, artistic, art-historical, urban-developmental, ethnological, or scientific value. This includes ensembles, individual works and their fragments, as well as their furnishings.

2. Excluded from the scope of this law are ruins and archaeological heritage management (archaeology), as well as museums and collections.

1. Cultural Monuments May Include

a. Public and private buildings such as churches, castles, residential and commercial buildings, inns, factories, farmhouses, technical facilities, fortifications, and historical sites;

b. Courtyards, parks, gardens, and other green spaces;

c. Streets, squares, and ensembles that are worthy of preservation in their entirety;

d. Facades and roofs, as well as paving of paths, alleys, streets, and squares;

e. Individual objects such as boundary and milestone markers, fountains, tombstones, memorials, roadside crosses, lighting fixtures;

f. Building parts and accessories such as organs, bells, pulpits, baptismal fonts, epitaphs, doors and gates, staircases, floors, ceilings, paneling, benches, pews, stuccos, stoves, fittings, wrought-iron work, inscriptions, paintings, sculptures, coats of arms, weapons, signs, and decorations, gold and silversmithing, pewterware, clocks, and automata.

1. Protection and Maintenance of Protected Cultural Monuments Can Be Achieved By

a. * Allocation and Designation of Municipally Protected Cultural Monuments in Zoning Plans;

b. * Inclusion of Cantonally Protected Cultural Monuments in the Inventory of Cantonally Protected Cultural Monuments;

c. Acquisition.

2. As far as possible, amicable solutions should be sought.

1. The canton and the municipal communities enact, within the framework of land-use planning, protection and preservation zones to maintain the worthy townscapes and valuable building substance in accordance with the provisions of spatial planning and building law.

1. It is prohibited to disfigure the local and landscape appearance. Disfigurement is assumed when an adverse effect on the local and landscape appearance is to be feared.

2. Buildings and installations must be integrated into the local and landscape appearance. Where the preservation of the local and landscape appearance requires it, the competent authority may furthermore impose suitable planting requirements.

3. It is forbidden to endanger the preservation of protected cultural monuments, to impair their value or impact, or to remove them.

4. Advertising structures must take into consideration the local and landscape appearance.

1. The government council, with the consent of the property owner and after consulting the local municipality, includes culturally significant monuments worthy of protection in the canton’s inventory of protected cultural monuments.

2. The inventory of protected cultural monuments contains a description of the cultural monument and the grounds for its eligibility for protection. It includes the necessary protective measures for preservation, such as maintenance and repair obligations, as well as permit requirements for modifications or changes to the structure or appearance of the cultural monument.

3. Specifically requiring a permit are relocations, removals, or demolitions of a cultural monument, renovations and conversions, changes to the exterior and interior, technical installations, as well as the installation of inscriptions and advertising structures.

4. A permit shall not be granted if substantial reasons related to monument protection oppose the intended measure. The permit may be issued subject to conditions and stipulations.

1. Cantonally protected cultural monuments must not be impaired by structural or technical changes in their surroundings.

2. The surroundings generally include the adjacent undeveloped areas as well as the neighboring or opposite buildings and structures of a cantonally protected cultural monument.

1. The change in use of a protected cultural monument requires approval. The change of use can be prohibited if the preservation of the substance or the typical character is not ensured.

2. If a cultural monument is used inappropriately and damage is to be feared as a result, the owner may be required to use the cultural monument in a different manner.

1. On Access to Cultural Monuments Included in the Inventory and the Public's Right to View Them, the Cantonal Authority May Enter into Agreements with the Entitled Parties.

1. The canton may grant one-time contributions for the renovation, restoration, and conservation of protected or to-be-protected cultural monuments in the interest of preserving cultural heritage.

2. The regular maintenance of the building is the responsibility of the owner.

1. The government council shall appoint a Monument and Heritage Protection Commission consisting of 7 members and shall appoint the president from among them.

2. It shall give preference to independent representatives from the relevant fields, ensuring that at least 3 persons are practicing professionals from the construction industry.

3. The head of the specialist office shall be an ex officio advisory member of the commission.

1. The Monument and Heritage Protection Commission is an advisory expert body of the canton and the municipal communities. In its advisory activities, it considers the feasibility, possibilities for energy optimization, and the principle of dense construction. It notably undertakes the following tasks

a. It maintains contact with related private organizations, government offices, and municipal authorities;

b. It promotes the concerns and efforts of monument and heritage protection;

c. It grants contributions up to CHF 50,000 within the framework of the budget;

d. It assesses applications for buildings and installations, projects for underground constructions, and plans that would substantially alter the local and landscape appearance;

e. It proposes to the governing council the inclusion in the inventory along with the associated protection measures;

f. * It provides an annual report on its activities;

g. * The municipal communities have the right to be heard on individual agenda items that affect their community.

2. In all matters concerning monument and heritage protection, the commission has the right to raise objections and complaints.

1. The cantonal specialist office is responsible for matters of monument protection and heritage conservation within the scope of cantonal administrative activities.

2. It manages the secretariat of the commission.

3. It collaborates with private heritage conservation organizations, informing them in particular about projects of general significance.

1. The competent directorate issues the orders and grants the permits based on this law, insofar as it does not provide otherwise.

2. The government council may delegate authority for specific matters to a department or to the cantonal specialist office.

1. The inclusion of cultural monuments in the inventory is to be published in the Official Gazette. The decision on the inclusion is to be communicated in writing to the affected local municipalities and property owners.

2. Affected parties have the right to appeal decisions regarding inclusion in the inventory to the Cantonal Court (Constitutional and Administrative Law Department). The Cantonal Court is free in its assessment. The appeal does not have a suspensive effect.

1. For properties on which protected cultural monuments are located, the public-law ownership restriction "protected cultural monument" must be noted in the land register pursuant to Article 962 of the Swiss Civil Code.

2. The cantonal specialist office arranges for the entry and deletion of such annotations.

3. The land registry office notifies the cantonal specialist office of changes in ownership of properties for which such an annotation is entered.

1. The cantonal specialist office may order provisional rescue and protective measures for endangered protected cultural monuments, such as prohibitions on alteration and removal and provisional entry in the inventory.

2. Provisional rescue and protective measures must be approved by the commission within 2 months. They lapse 1 year after their approval. In exceptional cases, the governing council may extend them by 1 year.

3. Complaints against approved provisional rescue and protective measures do not have a suspensive effect.

1. The inventory of protected cultural monuments is to be continuously updated and adjusted to changing circumstances.

2. The Governing Council may, after consulting the commission or upon the application of the property owners, remove a protected cultural monument from the inventory if the reasons for its inclusion in the inventory no longer exist or if overriding reasons of public interest so require. The decision to remove the monument must be published in the Official Gazette.

3. Property owners may submit such applications at the earliest 10 years after their building has been included or since the last review.

4. Property owners have the right to appeal the decision of the Governing Council to the Cantonal Court (Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law). The Cantonal Court is free in its assessment.

1. The Municipal Council and the Cantonal Expert Office oversee the protected cultural monuments.

1. Anyone who damages or destroys protected cultural monuments is obligated to restore them to their lawful condition.

2. The government council determines the specific measures upon the request of the cantonal specialist office. It may have these measures carried out at the expense of the responsible parties if they do not comply with the directives.

1. If an owner or user fails to undertake the necessary maintenance, upkeep, or repair of a protected cultural monument to achieve the protection objective, the government council may order the execution of the corresponding measures by third parties.

2. The costs for the substitute performance may be charged to the obligated parties.

1. Expropriation of protected cultural monuments is permissible insofar as the protection objective cannot be achieved by other means.

2. The expropriation is carried out in favor of the canton.

3. Expropriations and expropriation-like interventions in property must be fully compensated according to the principles of expropriation law. The Landrat grants the right of expropriation. The government council decides on objections that remain contested. Otherwise, the procedure follows the provisions of the Expropriation Law of June 19, 1950.

1. Cantonal Heritage Protection Organizations are entitled to file objections and appeals in matters of monument and heritage protection, provided they have existed as a legal entity for at least 5 years.

1. Whoever violates the provisions of this law or the regulations and orders issued based on it shall be punished with a fine.

2. In serious cases, the fine may be increased to CHF 100,000.

1. Section 97 of the Act of 30 May 1911 on the Introduction of the Civil Code is repealed.

1. The Executive Council shall determine the commencement of this law.