Historical Archive of the City of Cologne 1.82

The Historical Archive of the City of Cologne is the municipal archive of Cologne, Germany. It ranks among the largest communal archives in Europe.A municipal archive has existed in Cologne since the Middle Ages. The oldest inventory of charters in the archive is dated 1408/1409. The oldest document kept in the archive is a charter dated AD 922.The archive contains official records and private documents from all ages of Cologne history, as well as an extensive library of manuscripts. While the adjective "historical" in its name might suggest a closed, complete archive with a focus on older history, the archive is also the official government repository responsible for collecting recent municipal records.The six-story archive building collapsed on 3 March 2009, along with two neighboring apartment buildings. Two residents of neighboring buildings were found dead. All archive staff and visiting archive users survived, as they were able to escape following a warning by construction workers. Around 90% of archival records were buried by the collapse, although it subsequently proved possible to rescue and repair many of them.Legal basisThe work of communal archives in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia is based on the "Archivgesetz des Landes NRW" bill of 1989. The municipal archive of Cologne is also governed by the municipal archive ordinance "Archivsatzung" (last revised in 2007). The federal "Bundesarchivgesetz" bill does not apply.HistoryShrine systemAn early programme of holding archival records in Cologne was the so-called Schreinswesen, used for documenting citizens' rights. A Schrein was a wooden chest or cabinet where parish administrations stored records and charters. Such shrines were used for records storage throughout the Middle Ages and into early modern times, most notably in the parish of St. Lawrence near the Cologne town hall. The records were for the most part those of real estate transactions: these were recorded on sheets of parchment or in books, which subsequently became known as Schreinsbücher . In Cologne, these books can be traced back to AD 1130. Similar books from the late 12th century are known from the cities of Metz and Andernach. In the 19th century, all records of the old Cologne shrine quarters were transferred to the municipal archives.