Archives are the memory of a people, the DNA that permeates all the cells of a nation and today, the State Archive fanatically preserves thousands of kilometers of papers behind its walls, keeping up with history. During the last 5 or 6 years, the shelves of this institution have been increased with new flows, a process that continues in parallel with digitalization.

The act of donating 8,000 authentic documents of Albanians who lived and worked in the US together with an important part of the daily ‘Albania’, should also serve as an example as people should be made aware that some books or documents are better kept inside 4 walls of this institution.

“Documentation stored out of the conditions that a one should be preserved is destroyed, therefore the State Archives is the only place that already has all the necessary standards to properly store these documents,” said Ardit Bido, director of the Albanian Archives.

In the last 5 years, more than 2 million documents on Albania and Albanians coming from Istanbul have been added, hundreds of thousands from other archives and which today are accessible in the [Albanian] archives, but there are also certain funds that are the focus of the archive for documents to be repatriated, such as the Albanian Consulate in Bari and some personal collections in Romania and Egypt.

We are also in talks with archives that seem far away, e.g. the Moldovan archive that we are close to reaching an agreement to receive the documentation of the princes of Moldova who were of Albanian origin,” said Bido.

Over the last few years, with the application of the electronic system, the number of researchers has also increased, but the objective is even more ambitious.

“With the opening of the Archival Museum that will take place this year, we are sure that the number of people who will come and be amazed by the documents of the national cultural heritage stored in the Albanian archive will increase,” said Bido.

Meanwhile, the online catalog has over 3 million file titles. This is the largest Albanological database in the world and is easily accessible online to anyone.

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