Danish National Archives

The Danish National Archives

Danish National Archives (Danish: Rigsarkivet) is the National archive of Denmark. The primary purpose is to collect, preserve and archive historically valuable records from central authorities, such as ministries, agencies and national organisations and make them available to the public. The archive is part of the Ministry of Culture.

It was founded in 1889 out of two older national archives, Gehejmearkivet (1296-1883) and Kongerigets arkiv (1861-1884).

Location

The headquarters of the Danish National Archices are located next to Christiansborg Palace on Slotsholmen. A new purpose-built storage building was opened in 2009 at Kalvebod Brygge. It was designed by PLH Arkitekter.

Significant collections

The Danish National Archives holds the archives of the Danish overseas trading companies, including the archives of the Danish East India Company, the Danish Asiatic Company, the Danish West India and Guinea Company and the Danish West India Trading Company, and reflects Denmark's relations with foreign countries such as the European States, Russia, Turkey, North African states and the American states. The archives of the Danish overseas trading companies were inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 1997. ^[1]

The Sound Toll Records, which provide detailed information about every ship and cargo that entered the Baltic and departed from the Baltic through the Danish straits starting in the 15th century, are also held at the Danish National Archives and in 2007 were also inscribed on the Memory of the World Register. ^[2]

References

1. ^ "Archives of the Danish overseas trading companies". UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. 2008-06-04. http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=22661&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html. Retrieved 2009-12-15. 
2. ^ "Sound Toll Registers". UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. 2008-05-16. http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=22482&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html. Retrieved 2009-12-15. 

Coordinates: 55°40′32″N 12°34′52″E / 55.67556°N 12.58111°E / 55.67556; 12.58111