Monasteries, together with their entire accompanying landscape context, have their cultural roots in the Middle Ages. In Poland they performed a very important cultureforming function throughout its history. For centuries, European monastic gardens have constituted unique spatial arrangements. These complexes, depending on their location and the fate of particular congregations, have gradually undergone transformations, finally achieving their contemporary form. Their remains are to a greater or lesser extent still present in landscape and require adequate protection. Nowadays, due to the changes in the way monastic and post-monastic complexes are used, they have adopted new functions and forms, not uncommonly conveying a different meaning. Frequently, it leads to the loss of their timeless value. The article presents the main problems with the conservation of the unique and culturally uniform group of post-Cistercian complexes and presents some of the best contemporary examples of the restoration of foreign complexes (Fontenay, Maulbronn, Poblet, Alcobaça), deemed particularly valuable and inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, as well as Polish complexes that were awarded the Monument of History title (in the order they were awarded the title: Krzeszów, Ląd, Sulejów, Pelplin, Kołbacz, Trzebnica, Wąchock). The article also reflects on the following ideas: 1. Is a garden a testament of the past, with mostly historical and research value, as Ruskin or Riegl felt, 2. Or is a garden a piece of art of aesthetic and utilitarian value, which should be beautiful and pleasant, and which should – as Viollet-le-Duc wanted – constitute a complete and stylistically uniform whole? It seems that finding an answer to this question, or at least becoming aware of the problem, is particularly important in the context of restoring complexes whose traditions date back to the origins of our culture.