Preservation of local heritage; appointment of a local heritage custodian

Full-time and volunteer heritage conservationists, public institutions and associations organize heritage conservation. Local cultural preservation is the responsibility of the local authorities. They appoint local heritage officers for their area.

The office of Ortsheimatpfleger or Ortsheimatpfleger is usually an honorary position. Ortsheimatpfleger exist in many towns and municipalities and are appointed by the town or municipality. They are appointed for an unlimited period of time or for a specific period of time. Reappointment is possible.

Local heritage preservation aims to preserve and shape. Created values of landscape-shaping, historical, scientific, artistic, urban planning and folkloristic significance should be preserved, maintained and further developed. With this in mind, it is the task of the local heritage custodians to contribute to the preservation and communication of the historical dimension of the local heritage as well as to critically accompany current processes of change and to carefully embed innovations into the existing.

The following areas are among the most important tasks of the local heritage custodians:

• Monument protection and preservation,
• architecture,
• Maintaining customs, dialects and traditional costumes,
• the preservation of folk music and folk dance,
• Collecting, documenting and researching cultural evidence of our historical and regional origins and identity,
• promoting cultural integration and
• imparting knowledge.

Local heritage custodians should work together with all heritage custodians, heritage associations and other persons and organizations active in their area in the field of heritage preservation. These include, for example, the Bayerischer Landesverein für Heimatpflege e. V., church authorities, schools of all kinds, specialist agencies and nature conservation associations, scientific institutions, archives, museums and collections, civic associations and initiatives, local and regional heritage associations and historical societies.