National Archives Department

Director, Heritage Curator : Mr Michaël BLOCHE
Contact details

The scope of the National Archives Department, which operates under the authority of the Minister of State and includes a Government Archives Section , covers all archives of public interest in the Principality, including:

Public archives, defined in Sovereign Ordinance no. 8.569 of 25 March 2021 on archives of public interest as being documents and data resulting from the activity of the State’s executive branch, the administrative activity of the State outside its executive branch (National Council, Department of Justice, Diocese, independent administrative authorities and other public sector bodies which are not established as legal entities), the Commune, public institutions, private bodies who hold or have been granted a concession, responsibility for the provision of a public service or general interest remit, and the activity of court bailiffs and notaries in their capacity as public or legal officials
Heritage archives, which fall under the scope of moveable cultural property as defined by Act no. 1.446 of 12 June 2017 on the preservation of national heritage

The two types of archive overlap since public archives, once they become "definitive" (permanently retained "in the public interest, particularly for scientific, historical, heritage or statistical research purposes"), are considered to be heritage archives where they have "significance for archaeology, prehistory, history, literature, art or science". Among other things Act no. 1.446 of 12 June 2017 stipulates that the heritage archives in their entirety, in addition to being properly conserved, must be subject to inventories, the content of which is set out in Sovereign Ordinance no. 8.569 of 25 March 2021 .

Role

Implementation of Sovereign Ordinance no. 3.413 of 29 August 2011 implementing various measures concerning relations between the Government and citizens , of the Sovereign Ordinance no. 8.569 of 25 March 2021 on archives of public interest , and the Sovereign Ordinance no. 11.113 of 18 February 2025 establishing the National Archives Department , with operational assistance from the Government Archives Section (SAG) for archives belonging to the State’s executive branch
Collection, by transfer, of administrative documents from the State’s executive branch in application of Article 33 of the Sovereign Ordinance no. 3.413 of 29 August 2011, or by deposit, in application of Article 2 of Sovereign Ordinance no. 8.569 of 25 March 2021, of public archives that are to be permanently retained in the public interest, particularly for scientific, historical, heritage or statistical research purposes
Collection of private archives, regardless of their nature, as payments in kind, gifts, bequests, transfers or deposits, for the purposes of conservation, classification, communication and promotion
Classification, conservation and, where appropriate, communication and promotion of the collected archives and, in the case of archives from the State’s executive branch, communication and promotion, if applicable, of permanent archives that have not yet been able to be transferred
Modernisation of the State archives and harmonisation of archiving practices
Development of digital archiving in partnership with the Interministerial Delegation for Digital Transition and Monaco Cyber Security Agency
Drafting of proposed legislation and regulations covering archives, acting in accordance with the remit of the relevant bodies
Representation of the Principality in the work of international organisations operating in its area of expertise, acting in accordance with the remit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation
All other responsibilities conferred by legislative and regulatory provisions

The National Archives Department works with the Public Interest Archives Consultative Committee , an advisory body created by Sovereign Ordinance no. 8.569 of 25 March 2021 on archives of public interest , which is chaired by Mr Jean-Charles Curau and for which the Director of the National Archives Preparatory Mission acts as the Deputy Chair. It can offer recommendations to the Public Interest Archives Consultative Committee to "guide or improve management, conservation, maintenance of inventories, communication, sharing, reuse and promotion relating to archives of public interest".

The Sovereign Ordinance no. 8.569 on archives of public interest also sets out additional aspects of the National Archives Department’s role, aimed at other producers and holders of archives of public interest:

For the State’s executive branch, scientific and technical oversight of the public archives to "ensure the security of documents and respect for the unity and integrity of collections", with operational assistance from the SAG:
- Advice and recommendations, including on conditions for preserving documents and data, search tools, compatibility of processing systems and promotion of archival heritage
- Visits to the locations where documents and data belonging to retaining departments are produced and preserved
- Validation of archive standards (which define, for each type of document and data, the length of administrative value and disposal actions – destruction, sorting/weeding for permanent retention, full permanent retention) developed by departments within the executive branch for their current and intermediate archives with the SAG
- Validation of archives belonging to departments within the executive branch which have been prepared for destruction with support from the SAG
- Validation of inventories of permanent (heritage) archives produced by the SAG
For producers of public archives that are not part of the executive branch, and who have an obligation to properly manage, preserve and, where appropriate, communicate their archives:
- Response to referrals of any questions relating to their archives: establishment of archiving procedures, development of premises for preserving archives, outsourcing of archive conservation, implementation of archive conservation measures, destruction, communication of archives, use of archives in publications, exhibitions or any other promotional media
- Methodological support and advice to help establish length of administrative value and implement archive standards
- If required, see paragraph below on holders of heritage archives
For holders of heritage archives, whether public or private:
- Methodological support and advice on producing regulatory inventories, and scientific validation of such inventories, as detailed in Article 18 of the Sovereign Ordinance no. 8.569 of 25 March 2021
For all producers and holders of archives of public interest:
- Review and validation of requests to file archives of public interest with the State