Archives Nationales (France)

Archives nationales
Archives nationales
	Top: Façade of Hôtel de Soubise, the historic site of the National Archives in the Marais district of Paris, where pre-French Revolution records are kept.; Bottom: National Archives' new site at Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, where post-French Revolution records are kept.
	48°51′37″N 2°21′34″E / 48.86029568613751°N 2.359355640417249°E and 48°56′54″N 2°21′53″E / 48.94825818490026°N 2.364806794181443°E
Location	Paris and Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, France
Established	1790
Collection size	383 km (physical records)(as of 2022); 74.75 terabytes (electronic archives); (as of end 2020)
Period covered	AD 625 - present
Website	www.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr

1289 letter of Arghun to Philip the Fair, in the Uyghur script, with detail of the introduction. The letter was remitted to the French king by Buscarel of Gisolfe. The seal is that of the Great Khan, in Chinese characters: "Seal of the upholder of the State and the purveyor of peace to the People". The paper is of Korean manufacture. 182x25 cm. French National Archives.^[1]

The Archives nationales (French pronunciation: [aʁʃiv nɑsjɔnal]; abbreviated AN; English: National Archives) are the national archives of France. They preserve the archives of the French state, apart from the archives of the Ministry of Armed Forces and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as these two ministries have their own archive services, the Defence Historical Service (SHD) and Diplomatic Archives [fr] respectively. The National Archives of France also keep the archives of local secular and religious institutions from the Paris Region seized at the time of the French Revolution (such as local royal courts of Paris, suburban abbeys and monasteries, etc), as well as the archives produced by the notaries of Paris during five centuries, and many private archives donated or placed in the custody of the National Archives by prominent aristocratic families, industrialists, and historical figures.

The National Archives have one of the largest and oldest archival collections in the world. As of 2022, they held 383 km (238 mi) of physical records (the total length of occupied shelves put next to each other) from the year 625 to the present time, and as of 2020 74.75 terabytes (74,750 GB) of electronic archives.^[2]

To deal with this massive volume of documents, the National Archives currently operate from two sites in the Paris Region: the historical site of the National Archives in the heart of Paris (in the Medieval Marais district), which contains the physical records of the French state from before the French Revolution as well as the records of the Paris notaries from all periods, and the newer site at Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, in the northern suburbs of Paris, opened in 2013, which contains all the physical records of the French state since the French Revolution, as well as the private archives from all periods.

Two sister agencies, the National Overseas Archives (ANOM) and the National Archives of the World of Labour [fr] (ANMT) are located in Aix-en-Provence and in Roubaix respectively. These are managed separately from the National Archives.

^ Grands Documents de l'Histoire de France, Archives Nationales de France, p.38, 2007.
^ "Activité des services d'archives en France : données 2020 - Conservation et restauration". francearchives.fr. Archived from the original (ODS) on 2022-06-16. Retrieved 2022-04-30.

[1] Grands Documents de l'Histoire de France, Archives Nationales de France, p.38, 2007.

[stat-2] "Activité des services d'archives en France : données 2020 - Conservation et restauration". francearchives.fr. Archived from the original (ODS) on 2022-06-16. Retrieved 2022-04-30.

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