Abstract
The present study examines a situation in which a work of architecture becomes a listed monument during the productive career of its author. Such instances are few but have begun to occur with greater frequency, considering the increasingly brief time between the completion of the work and its legal protection. The case study analysed is that of the Bratislava crematorium, built from the design of Slovak architect Ferdinand Milučký in 1969 and in 2003 declared a national monument as an artistically exceptional and internationally significant work. Milučký was known for his vehement defence of architects’ authorial rights, yet nonetheless largely accepted the monument status for his crematorium, which prevented any further interventions in the work. The study attempts to summarise the lessons arising from the divergence between this situation and that of earlier built monuments by authors no longer living, while bringing attention to the tension between the innovative tendencies of a living architect and the conservation-oriented nature of monument protection, along with the subjective motivations of the creator. Further, it highlights the gaps in current monument-protection and intellectual-property legislation and the possibilities for cooperation in monument care.