The new building of the National Archives in Cracow on Rakowicka Street includes 14,000 square meters of usable space, an audiovisual room for 180 people, spacious exhibition halls, modern preservation and digitization studios, archival warehouses capable of holding some 70,000 linear meters of files, a bindery and a multi-module reading room for archival materials.
On May 29 this year, the new building of Krakow's National Archives was taken over from the general contractor. In early June, installation of archival shelving and office, specialized and IT equipment began. This will take several months. In the second half of this year it is planned to move the archive's 20,000 or so running meters of stock. The new building is scheduled to open to users in the first quarter of 2021.
5 addresses in one
The new building will accommodate all archival materials from 5 facilities scattered in various locations in Krakow and the exposition in Spytkowice near Zator. This will be a great convenience for recipients, who will be able to use all the resources gathered in one place. The rest of the storage space will be a reserve for additions over the next few decades. In spacious and comfortable reading rooms, users will have access to the accumulated entire stock of one of the largest archives in Poland. An audiovisual room and an exhibition hall will allow attractive popularization initiatives to be offered to a wide audience. The interiors are adapted to accommodate people with physical disabilities.
The National Archive building is located on Rakowiecka Street in Cracow
photo: L. Pochwalska
modern building of the National Archive
As we read in the information on the website of the Ministry of Culture:
"During the construction of the building,state-of-the-art technologies were used to protect the valuable archival collections, as well as solutions to care for the environment and low energy consumption of the building. Both the eye-catching body of the building and the solutions used, including in the construction of the walls, as well as the use of modern systems, including a fire protection system intended for archival facilities and heating and cooling systems using a geothermal system, are innovative solutions that provide the best conditions for the storage of archival resources in the long term. The entire heating demand will be provided by the facility itself, without support from the district heating network. In addition, photovoltaic panels mounted on the roof will reduce the costs incurred for electricity supply. The entire technical solutions can be easily controlled by a modern building management system.
Land from the Military Property Agency
The property for the new building was donated by the Military Property Agency in 2013. The building was constructed according to a 2016 design by the "Arkona" Historic Preservation Studio. Funding for the investment worth about PLN 123 million came entirely from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The investment was carried out by construction company Skanska SA - with the participation of Substitute Investor - ECM Group Poland SA. Along with the construction of the new building, two smaller historic buildings - remnants of the former "Krakow" fortress - were also restored.
