COURAGE

povezovanje zbirk

The National Archives is an administrative institution, central archive of the Czech Republic and budgetary organisation which has been directed by the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic since 1 January 2005. The current director of the archive (2018) is Eva Drašarová. Due to its size and nationwide significance, it is the most important public archive in the Czech Republic. The National Archives provides a whole range of administrative and professional services: it controls the output of file services, chooses archive materials, gives expert information and consultation advice to owners of archive materials and sorts archive materials for both permanent and short-term storage under pre-arranged conditions. It guarantees optimal conditions for archive materials (through their suitable storage, restoration and conservation of damaged archive materials, and the production of security and research reproductions). The National Archives also administers, registers, classifies, arranges and makes accessible the archive materials. The archive organises exhibitions, excursions, as well as research and educational activities. This memory institution also manages a large library, with more than 500,000 books accessible to the general public. The Library of the Archive has the status of a public library.

The institute was founded on 1 October 1954 and was called the Prague State Central Archive until 2004. It came into being through the merger of the Archive of the Czech Lands (also consisting of the Archive of the Czech Crown, containing documents from the royal Přemyslid dynasty and other important archive materials issued before 1935) with the archive from the Ministry of the Interior, founded by transforming a former archive of the stadtholder office. On 1 January 1956, the Central Agricultural-Forestry Archive was incorporated. The creation of a central archive institution brought some new challenges, such as the creation of a unified system of recording archive materials, as well as a change in priorities. The more recent political collections, especially those relating to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and the workers’ movement, received priority and became accessible, as did collections of an economic nature and those reflecting the "building of socialism". After the Velvet Revolution in November 1989, the collection of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia 1945–1989 has been among the most requested; the collection was handed over to the National Archives (the State Central Archive at that time) in January 1991 following the constitutional act no. 496 from 1990 concerning the return of the property of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia to the people of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic.

The museum was founded toward the end of the XIX century due to the efforts of Ukrainian intellectuals, who aimed to create the first museum in Kyiv that was free and open to the public. The building itself was designed by Moscow architect Petro Boitsov in a neo-classical style, which was later revised and carried out by Kyiv architect Vladyslav Horodetskiy. The sculptures decorating the façade were created in the workshop of Elio Salia. The first exhibit opened in August 1899 in honor of the ХІ All-Russian Archaeology Conference, but in a partly constructed building of the Kyiv City Museum of Antiquity and Art. The official opening of the museum took place on December 30, 1904.

After nationalization in 1919, the museum was renamed the First State museum, before becoming the Taras Shevchenko All-Ukrainian History Museum in 1924-1936. In 1936, the institution was once again renamed as the Ukrainian State Museum, becoming the State Museum of Ukrainian Art in 1939. During the German occupation of Kyiv in 1942, the museum was integrated with the Russian art collection, subsumed by the State Museum of East European Art. Once the Red Army retook Kyiv, the museum’s previous status was restored. These name changes reflect not just Ukraine’s complicated past, but also various stages of Ukrainian museum work restoration. For example, the names reflect changes in the museum collection’s profile and the transfer of certain parts of the collection in order to establish other museums in the Kyiv.

In 1994, the institution was renamed the National Art Museum of Ukraine, reflecting its status as the primary repository for Ukrainian art.

In 2005 the Polish Audiovisual Publishing House was founded, which in 2009 changed its name to National Audiovisual Institute (NiNA). With the rebranding came greater improvements in working conditions - NiNA was one of the first institutions in Poland to have fully professional digitalization and restoration possibilities.
The National Audiovisual Institute has realized various digitalization and dissemination activities. It initiated DVD and Blue Ray editions of Polish films and opera and theatre plays.
From 2010 to 2015 NiNA operated the ministerial programe "Kultura+" and as such, it was responsible for supporting many Polish institutions (both from bigger and smaller cities) in the digitalization of their resources. A lot of materials digitalized were consequently uploaded and made accessible on the Ninateka website (www.ninateka.pl).
In 2017, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage decided to merge National Audiovisual Institute with National Film Archive.