Beschermd erfgoed is the official term to describe Flemish National Heritage Sites listed by law[1] to protect and spread awareness of Belgian cultural heritage, specifically in Flanders. The term is also used nationwide to refer to national heritage sites. Because Belgium is officially a tri-lingual country, the other nationwide terms used in Flanders and the rest of the country are the French term Bien classé and the German term Kulturdenkmal.
Various websites with public information are maintained, and various initiatives are undertaken to assist protected property owners and to increase public awareness, most notably the European Heritage Days, which are called (nl) "Open Monumentendagen", (fr) "Journées du patrimoine", and (de)"Tage des offenen Denkmals", depending on the language of the locale.
The government agencies "Ruimte en Erfgoed" and "Vlaams Instituut voor het Onroerend Erfgoed (VIOE)" joined together in 2011.[2] They work as agencies of the Flemish Ministry of Spatial Planning, Housing Policy and Heritage sites (Dutch: ministerie van Ruimtelijke -Ordening, Woonbeleid en Onroerend Erfgoed (RWO)) from four locations in Antwerp, Louvain, Hasselt and Ghent. They maintain the administration of the Royal Commission for Monuments and Sites (Dutch: Koninklijke Commissie voor Monumenten en Landschappen (KCML)). .