Backing up and restoring selected versioned objects from a monolithic database backup

A method, system and computer-readable storage medium that selectively restore a version of an application object stored in a monolithic backup of a database, while maintaining hierarchical and other metadata relationships of the restored portion of the database are disclosed. Such a mechanism receives a request to restore a version of a selected object from among a plurality of backed up objects in a database backup, locates information associated with the selected object in the backup, and restores the version of the selected object to a target storage area using information associated with the selected object. Database table metadata, gathered from the backed up database at the time the backup was created, can be used to locate the information associated with the selected object.