The list of monuments is a register kept by the State Office for Monument Preservation, in which three types of monuments are entered: Architectural monuments, ground monuments and movable monuments.
Architectural monuments are to be included in the list of monuments for information purposes. The aim is to ensure that as many of Bavaria's monuments as possible are included in the list; for this reason, the list is updated on an ongoing basis (for a link, see "Further links").
However, the protection regulations of the Monument Protection Act (DSchG) apply regardless of whether a building is on the monument list or not. For monuments, therefore, an entry in the list of monuments does not have any direct legal consequences. Rather, the list serves primarily as an aid for the monument protection authorities, making it easier for them to check whether the protection regulations of the DSchG must be observed for a particular building. Furthermore, the list of monuments is an important information tool for interested citizens.
On the basis of the monument list, the monuments are mapped on the website of the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in the so-called "Bavarian Monument Atlas" (for link, see "Further links"). The architectural monuments and ensembles are depicted in terms of area, i.e. down to the level of a building or part of a building, ground monuments in their known extent. In addition, photos with the exterior view can be called up for almost every recorded building monument.
Ground monuments are also to be entered in the list for information purposes. Like the architectural monuments, the archaeological monuments are protected regardless of whether they are entered in the list of monuments or not.
Movable monuments are entered in the list of monuments only at the request of the entitled person or in particularly important cases. Special protection regulations of the DSchG apply to registered movable monuments. These regulations do not apply to movable monuments that are not entered in the list of monuments. In contrast to monuments of buildings and land, the entry in the list of monuments is therefore a prerequisite for the application of the special protection regulations of the DSchG in the case of movable monuments.