In his reflections on international and European legal norms referring to the protection of cultural heritage in Poland the author presented select international bilateral conventions (involving the Republic of Poland and West Germany) as well as international European Council conventions which unfortunately do not encompass Poland; they include the Convention about the protection of architectural heritage (1985) which Poland did not ratify. European Community legislation is discussed against the background of the Treaty on the establishment of the European Community and the “Association Convention” em bracing Poland and the European Community together with its member states. The proposed analysis pertains to UNESCO legislation whose norms are binding for Poland upon the basis of signed and ratified international conventions. The author outlined the backdrop of constitutional expressions pertaining to the protection of cultural heritage, and examined the relations between the concepts of “national” and “European (joint) cultural heritage”.