The study aims to highlight the gaps in criminal liability for attacks directed against immovable cultural objects, which raises the question of why the same offence is considered a crime under international law in the case of armed conflict, but not in the absence of it. The destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in 2001 is the classic example of how attacks on protected objects are not always governed by the laws of armed conflict. This episode evidenced that there is a gap at the international level when it comes to crimes against cultural property in peacetime.