The Directorate for Cultural Heritage ( or ''Direktoratet for kulturminneforvaltning'') is a

government agency A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, s ...

responsible for the management of

cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by socie ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. Subordinate to the

Norwegian Ministry of the Environment The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment ( Norwegian: ''Klima- og miljødepartementet'', KLD) is a Norwegian ministry established on 8 May 1972. The Ministry of Climate and Environment has a particular responsibility for carrying ...

, it manages the '' Cultural Heritage Act of June 9, 1978''. The directorate also has responsibilities under the Norwegian Planning and Building Law.

Cultural Heritage Management in Norway

The directorate for Cultural Heritage Management is responsible for management on the national level. At the regional level the county municipalities are responsible for the management in their county. The Sami Parliament is responsible for management of

Sámi Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

heritage. On the island of

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

, the

Governor of Svalbard The governor of Svalbard () represents the Norwegian government in exercising its sovereignty over the Svalbard archipelago (Spitsbergen). The position reports to the Norwegian Ministry of Justice, but it maintains all Norwegian interests in ...

maintains management responsibilities. For archaeological excavations there are five chartered archeological museums.

History

The work with cultural heritage started in the early 1900s, and the first laws governing heritage findings came in 1905, with the first law protecting heritage buildings appearing in 1920. The post as National Antiquarian was established in 1912. When the Ministry of the Environment was created in 1972 the responsibility was transferred there, and the current law for cultural heritage is dated June 9, 1978, replacing the two older laws. The post was made a directorate on July 1, 1988.

List of National Antiquarians

* 1912–1913

Herman Major Schirmer Herman Major Schirmer (20 June 1845 – 11 April 1913) was a Norwegian architect, educator and historian of art. He has been described as "one of the chief ideologues" of Norwegian romantic nationalism. He was also a diligent writer and Norway's ...

* 1913–1946 Harry Fett * 1946–1958

Arne Nygård-Nilssen Arne Nygård-Nilssen - ca. 1950 - Oslo Museum - OB.F06279a. Arne Nygård-Nilssen (5 April 1899 – 26 July 1958) was a Norwegian art historian, publicist and magazine editor. Biography Nygård-Nilssen grew up in Bergen, Norway where his father wa ...

* 1958–1977 Roar Hauglid * 1978–1991 Stephan Tschudi-Madsen * 1991–1997 Øivind Lunde (leave of absence since 1995) * 1997–2009

Nils Marstein Nils Marstein (born 4 February 1950) is a Norwegian civil servant. He was educated as an architect at the Norwegian Institute of Technology from 1969 to 1974, and was hired at the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage The Directorate for ...

(acting since 1995) * 2009–2009

Sjur Helseth Sjur is a short form of the Norwegian masculine given name Sigurd originating from the Old Norse given name ''Sigurðr'' which means "victory" and "guarding". Sjur is also used as a surname, but is very rare. People with the given name *Sjur Aa ...

(acting) * 2009–2018

Jørn Holme Jørn Holme (born 16 August 1959) is a Norwegian judge and civil servant. He grew up at Nordberg, and originally wanted to become a priest. He was active in the Norwegian Christian Student Association while studying. He graduated with the cand ...

* 2018–present Hanna Geiran

References

{{authority control Government agencies of Norway Cultural heritage of Norway Archaeology of Norway Organisations based in Oslo Government agencies established in 1912 1912 establishments in Norway Ministry of Climate and Environment (Norway) National heritage organizations