Zgodovinski arhiv Ljubljana

The beginnings of the Historical Archives Ljubljana date back to 1898, when the poet and theologian Anton Aškerc took up his post as the city archivist. Mayor Ivan Hribar was the main person responsible for his appointment. Aškerc began his work as archivist at the Ljubljana City Hall on July 15, 1898. Despite the poor working conditions, he managed to set up the city archive.

Founded in 1898 the Historical Archives Ljubljana are the direct successor of the Municipal Archives of Ljubljana. The Historical Archives of Ljubljana is a public cultural institution established by the state. Its primary mission is to preserve archival material, Slovenian invaluable cultural heritage and cultural monument. As the largest regional archive in the Republic of Slovenia, the Historical Archives Ljubljana operates in twenty administrative units. The headquarters of the archive, with its management and general service, is in Ljubljana (Trdinova ulica 4). The archive consists of five organisational units: Ljubljana, Kranj, Novo Mesto, Škofja Loka, Idrija.

The Historical Archives Ljubljana store around 16,000 linear meters of archive material in its five departments. This amount grows every year through new acquisitions. The content of most of the material relates to the area for which we are responsible. As a rule, all of the Historical Archives Ljubljana material is over 30 years old, with the oldest dating back to the 14th century.

The Historical Archives Ljubljana archival material comes from many areas, mainly from the fields of administration, justice, education, business, health and social security, social organizations and culture. Some materials are also of private origin. Archive material includes minutes of meetings of various administrative bodies, school chronicles, census records, court records, plans of public buildings, statutes of associations, postcards of Slovenian towns, etc.

The basic information about the holdings and collections of the Historical Archives Ljubljana is available online via Virtual Archive Reading Room (VARR) https://vac.sjas.gov.si/vac.