The protection of the immobile monument ascribed great importance not only to the latter’s technical state but also to the preservation of non-material values, connected with that monument, including its pragmatic purpose, i.e. its functions. The author consideres classifications o f the function of the immobile monument: original (extant, non extant, restored following the stage o f a secondary function) and secondary, architectonic and extra-architectonic (e. g. tourist), those w hose replacement by other functions is undesirable, and those which can be supplanted by others, primary and supplementary, without any harm to the monuments. In accordance with one of such divisions, the author classifies monuments as: those with a single function and several, parallel functions occurring during the same period. The legal protection o f the function of the historical monument is described upon the basis of the binding regulations of laws about the protection o f cultural property as w ell as about the construction law and pertinent executive regulations. The author conducts a critical appraisal from the point of view of the imprecise nature of institutional solutions introduced into the protection o f the function of immobile monuments. By citing examples of historical functions, the author discusses in detail the historical outfitting of pharmacies in Kraków, threatened by the change of functions and liquidation. The article ends with a description concerning Kraków, and select examples of administrative and legal-administrative solutions as regards the problem in question.