The National Archives in Kraków are located in the most technologically advanced archive building in Poland. The building consists of 2 segments: the storage facility and the office, while its floor space is approximately 14,000 m². Its 8 stories of storage rooms can house up to 70,000 meters of current records. The office part consists of 6 stories and features clerical rooms, cutting-edge conservation and digitization facilities, a bookbinding workshop, a multi-section reading room and an audiovisual room for up to 180 spectators, as well as three server rooms (including the server room of the country-wide Backup Digital Repository of the State Archives).
The new building is a safe haven for previously scattered archival materials originally kept in 5 existing Kraków branches of the Archive, as well as the branch office in Spytkowice near Zator. After processing the majority of the existing holdings (some 20,000 meters of records), the rest of the storage space will be used for new arrivals over the course of the next few decades.
The building features cutting-edge technological solutions, including advanced air conditioning and temperature regulation systems, fire protection and ventilation. The roof is equipped with solar panels. The entire building is managed using a smart building management system (BMS).
Concurrently with the construction of the new building, we restored two smaller historic buildings – the remnants of the old Kraków Fortress – which now serve as an electrical substation and a utility building.
More information about the construction process can be found on the website of the National Archives in Kraków.