The document discusses the role of the CEI National Office for Ecclesiastical Cultural Heritage and Church Building Projects in Italy. It summarizes that the Church has a large cultural heritage, including artistic, library, and archival assets, and that the CEI office works with government agencies like MiBACT to protect this heritage through inventories, collaboration, and agreements. It also oversees diocesan offices that manage cultural assets at the local level and maintain databases of church properties, artworks, libraries, and archives.

1. Knowledge, Protection and Conservation of
the Historical and Artistic Heritage
in the Italian Churches
The role of the CEI National Office
for Ecclesiastical Cultural Heritage and Church Building Projects
valerio pennasso

2. Knowledge, Protection and
Conservation of the Historical
and Artistic Heritage
in the Italian Churches
The sacred art is an essential
element in the life of the Christian
community, because it has always
witnessed the theology of faith, the
relationship between life and
religion, the adherence of human
reality to the divine one.
The norms aimed at remedying the
damage to the historical and artistic
heritage of the Church
Rome, on June 14th, 1974

3. Knowledge, Protection and
Conservation of the Historical
and Artistic Heritage
in the Italian Churches
It is not enough to merely recognize
the damage suffered, but it is
necessary a global knowledge of the
artistic heritage in its historical,
technical and conservative
perspective.
An inventory and a catalog.
When it is necessary to provide for
the possibility of temporary
removal of works destined for use
in worship, compatible with the
state of preservation.
Rome, on June 14th, 1974

4. • Can. 1283 – Before administrators undertake their
duties:
• 1/ They must take an oath, in the presence of the
Ordinary or his delegate, that they will well and truly
perform their office;
• 2/ They are to draw up a clear and accurate inventory,
to be signed by themselves, of all immovable goods, of
those movable goods which are precious or of a high
cultural value, and of all other goods, with
a description and an estimate of their value; when this
has been compiled, it is to be certified as correct;
• 3/ One copy of this inventory is to be kept in
the administration office and another in the curial
archive; any change which takes place in the property is
to be noted on both copies.
Code of Canon Law, Rome, 1983
Knowledge, Protection and
Conservation of the Historical
and Artistic Heritage
in the Italian Churches

5. CEI National
Office
MiBACT
Institutes
Directorates-
General
UCCN
State/Regions
TCP

6. Church cultural heritage represents a high percentage of the national
cultural heritage: they include, “first and foremost, the artistic heritage
of painting, sculpture, architecture, mosaic and music, placed at the
service of the Church's mission. They are added to the library assets
contained in ecclesiastical libraries and historical documents kept in the
archives of ecclesial communities. "(November 2014)
The presence of such an impressive heritage, not just ecclesiastical,
justifies the establishment, in 1969, of the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage
Protection (CC TPC) Command, whose peculiar mission is to prevent and
repress the innumerable threats to which it is exposed.
The synthesis of the dynamic collaboration between the Italian State
and the Catholic Church in Italy in recent years is represented in
particular by two Agreements, signed by the President of the Italian
Episcopal Conference and the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and
Activities :
• a general Agreement (January 25th 2005) relating to the protection of
cultural heritage of religious interest belonging to entities and
ecclesiastical institutions;
• The second, signed on 18 April 2000, dedicated to the preservation
and consultation of archives of historical interest and libraries.

7. bce.chiesacattolica.it

8. Regional
Agencies Regional Council
Regional officer and
delegate bishop
Diocesan representatives, Institutes
of consacrated life and M.A.B.
Joint Committee (Soprintendenze)
Joint Board (Region)
Regional
Council
Diocese
Territory
Institutions
Ecclesiatic
Region
Process of
the ecclesial
relations
Intra - Extra

9. Diocesan
Organisation
It represents the inspiration place and the
ground for implementation of the "politics"
of the cultural heritage of the Bishop and of
the Diocese, far beyond the administrative /
organizational / economic aspects.
It connects and integrates:
Museum - Archive - Library
It realizes relationships with the various
artistic, historical and cultural realities,
relations with the administrations and the
entities
Diocesan Office
Director, Diocesan officer,
Bishop appointee
Commission of Sacred Art

20. Parishes visited by diocesan teams
78,3 %
of the entities to the filing
requirement have already been
visited for the diocesan inventory of
mobile goods
Inventoried goods until Nov 10, 2017
4.073.737 0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
26.650
20.796
Italian parishes
Visited parishes

26. Database ‘Churches List’
Subscription ‘Churches List’: 224
dioceses
Subscription ‘Census of churches’ :
162 dioceses
Database:
25,560 parishes
66,247 churches
16,853 data sheet A

29. La Chiesa I beni storico-artistici

31. Operative libraries: 264
of which diocesan: 121
Other ecclesiastical entities: 143

33. Operative archives: 365
of which diocesan: 200
Other ecclesiastical entities: 165

34. CEI
Immovable
Goods
The Access to the Data Sheets in the Internal Systems

35. The Access to the Data Sheets in the External Systems
CEI
Immovable
Goods