The National Institute of Cultural Heritage was formed through the merger of two former institutions under the Ministry of Culture, namely the Institute of Cultural Monuments “Gani Strazimiri” and the Archaeological Service Agency.
The National Institute of Cultural Heritage, hereinafter referred to as NICH, is a national scientific specialized institution, under the authority of the minister responsible for cultural heritage. It was established by Law No. 27/2018 “On Cultural Heritage and Museums” and Decision No. 364, dated 29.5.2019, “On the Functioning and the Manner of Activity Development of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage.”
NICH operates in the field of tangible cultural heritage, with the purpose of identifying, researching, studying, designing, conserving, restoring, supervising, inspecting, promoting, and publishing tangible cultural heritage. It also carries out activities in the field of preventive and rescue archaeology and the study of archaeological heritage as a result of urban and territorial planning in the Republic of Albania. Additionally, it develops criteria for archaeological research, reviews related technical documentation, and supervises archaeological processes and the progress of development projects, based on the decisions of collegial decision-making bodies.