Cultural Heritage Law: Past, Present and Future

This course provides an overview of the international and comparative law for the protection of cultural heritage and of several of legal and ethical issues related to it.

The course is structured in two parts. The first part aims to develop the students’ awareness of the evolution of cultural heritage law, its complex relationship with general international law and human rights law, and the different ideological positions of the relevant stakeholders. The goal of the second part of the course is to cover the main substantive themes of cultural heritage law, namely: the protection of cultural property in times of war; the restitution of cultural assets lost as a result of theft, illicit excavations and illicit trade – either from land or underwater sites; the protection of the built heritage and of the human rights associated with the tangible and intangible cultural heritage.