General State Archives

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Facade of the General State Archives in Brussels.

The General State Archives is the seat of the Belgian State Archives . It is located near the central train station and Sablon Square on rue de Ruysbroeck in Brussels . Over 70 kilometers of archival material are stored there.

tasks

Lettres patents from Chancellerie de pays bas autrichiens

The General State Archives keep the archives of the Central Institutions of the Burgundian Netherlands and the Spanish and Austrian Netherlands until 1795, as well as the archives of the central public services from the French period (1795–1815) and the period of the Kingdom of the United Netherlands (1815–1830) . The archives of the central institutions of the national and later federal government from the founding of Belgium (1830) to the present day are also kept there, with the exception of the archives of the Ministry of Defense and the Foreign Office. The archives kept include:

  • The archives of the government authorities and collateral councils (State Council, Privy Council, Finance Council) and the archives of their legal successors (Royal Council of Philip V , Council of the General Government under Joseph II ).
  • The Archives of the Accounts Chamber.
  • The funds of the secretariats that assisted the governor general and the government councilors (audience, state and war secretariat, German state secretariat).
  • The archives of subordinate authorities that were created during the Austrian period in order to relieve the collateral councils from dealing with certain matters (junta of debt repayment, Jesuit committee, treasury and religion committee, etc.)
  • The archives of the courts of justice: Great Council of Mechelen, Blood Council ("Council of Unrest") etc.
  • The archives of the creation of the park and Königsplatz, the house of Karl Alexander of Lorraine , the office for the works of the court, etc.

In addition to the archives of the public sector, the General State Archives also keep numerous private archives such as personal archives of politicians who have given them to the State Archives. Other rich funds are the sometimes very extensive family archives that were given by influential families in the country.

The General State Archives hold the following funds:

Also worth mentioning:

  • Cultural archives: Archives of the administration of the La Monnaie / De Munt opera house (Brussels, 1771-1816) etc.
  • Maps, plans, graphics, manuscripts.
  • Over two million personal alien files created from 1839, when the Public Security Service was commissioned to monitor all foreigners on the territory.
  • The seal cast collection (second largest collection of its kind in the world).
  • The digital documents ( church books ) available in the digital reading room .
  • Various works, mainly on the history of Belgium and in particular the history of Brabant , but also a number of printed sources: pamphlets, old edicts and ordinances, specialist publications and journals on archival science, and inventories of archives held in other state archives in Belgium or abroad be kept.
  • etc.

The General State Archives has a reading room that is open to the public. There, researchers, historians, students, history enthusiasts (e.g. about local and family history) etc. can view some of the documents, taking into account the private nature of certain information. Various exhibitions aimed at enhancing the value of the collections are freely accessible to the public and can usually be seen in the reception hall of the General State Archives. Colloquia and symposia are regularly organized for the various target groups of the State Archives. The General State Archives building also houses the facility's central coordination services.

Digital reading room

Around 24,000 church registers from Belgium and registry office registers that are not more than 100 years old can be viewed in digital format in the 19 reading rooms of the State Archives, including the State Archives General. Investigators, victims of National Socialist persecution or their relatives can, on request and under certain conditions, search the digital copy of the archives of the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen, Germany, in the General State Archives . This digital copy (over 80 million digital images, with a total storage capacity of around six terabytes) of the files on civilian victims of the Nazi regime contains documents on labor, concentration and extermination camps, registrations of the persecuted, forced labor lists and a central index of names.

The parish registers and registry office registers have been available on the State Archives website since January 2013. Other digitized documents are also available for inspection in the digital reading room or on the State Archives website: the minutes of the Councils of Ministers (1918–1979), the Statistical Yearbook of Belgium (and the Belgian Congo) since 1870, over 20,000 cast seals, etc. The reading rooms are accessible to all persons in possession of a valid reader card.

See also

literature

  • De Mecheleer L., Aperçu des instruments de recherche disponibles à la salle de lecture des Archives générales du Royaume: Situation from January 1st 2008 , series Archives générales du Royaume et Archives de l'État dans les Provinces: Guides. Volume 67 , Archives générales du Royaume, Brussels, 2008. ¨Available on the State Archives website.
  • Vanrie A., Guide des fonds et collections des Archives générales du Royaume. Archives scabinales et communales du Brabant , série Archives générales du Royaume et Archives de l'État dans les Provinces: Guides. Volume 16 , Archives générales du Royaume, Brussels, 1995, 607 p.
  • Soenen M., Guide des fonds et collections des Archives générales du Royaume. Institutions centrales des Pays-Bas sous l'Ancien Régime. , series Archives générales du Royaume et Archives de l'État dans les Provinces: Guides. Volume 15 , Archives générales du Royaume, Brussels, 1994, 589 p.
  • Muret P., Guide des fonds et collections des Archives générales du Royaume. Archives ecclésiastiques du Brabant: Doyennés, paroisses, collégiales , série Archives générales du Royaume et Archives de l'État dans les Provinces: Guides. Volume 17 , Archives générales du Royaume, Brussels, 1994, 2 volumes.
  • Van Nieuwenhuysen A., supplemented by Laurent R., Guide des fonds et collections des Archives générales du Royaume: Archives de familles et de particuliers , série Archives générales du Royaume et Archives de l'État dans les Provinces: Guides. Volume 29 , Archives générales du Royaume, Brussels, 1999, 233 p.
  • D'Hoore M., Archives de particuliers relatives à l'histoire de la Belgique contemporaine (de 1830 à nos jours) , série Archives générales du Royaume et Archives de l'État dans les Provinces: Guides. Volume 40 , Archives générales du Royaume, Brussels, 1998.
  • Vanden Bosch H., Amara M. et D'Hooghe V., under the direction of Tallier P.-A., Guide des sources de la Première Guerre mondiale en Belgique , (Publ. 4921), Archives générales du Royaume, Brussels, 2010, 1057 p.

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Coordinates: 50 ° 50 ′ 32.5 "  N , 4 ° 21 ′ 23.8"  E