Københavns Stadsarkiv Copenhagen City Archives

History and Founding

The Copenhagen City Archives (Københavns Stadsarkiv) is one of Scandinavia's foremost municipal archives, holding records of the city of Copenhagen spanning 750 years. The oldest document in the collection is a charter of town privileges from 1275. The archive has historically been associated with Copenhagen's city government and is housed within Copenhagen City Hall (Rådhuset), directly below the City Council Chamber at Rådhuspladsen 1. The Archive's collections were formed as a result of its continuous role as the official repository for Copenhagen municipal records.

Collections and Holdings

The Archives contain over 40 linear kilometers of physical archival materials, plus at least three terabytes of digital records equivalent to a further ten kilometers. Holdings include administrative records, building drawings, photographs, maps, genealogical records, and institutional documentation covering Copenhagen's governance and social history. The single largest physical collection transferred includes approximately 180,000 architectural drawings from the City Architect's office (1886–1998), handed over to the Archives in 1998. The online platform kbhbilleder.dk provides digitized visual materials from the collection, and kbharkiv.dk provides a growing searchable archive.

Journalism and Media Relevance

The Archives hold a substantial collection of historical photographs and urban documentation that serve as primary sources for media and journalism historians researching Copenhagen's development. Since 2009, volunteer crowdsourcing projects have involved thousands of participants in transcribing handwritten manuscripts to make them searchable online.

Access and Usage

The reading room at Copenhagen City Hall is open to all. A growing number of records are digitized and freely searchable online. The archives are also part of the Creative Europe-funded City Memories project, a cross-European initiative developing new methods for working with architectural drawing collections. Contact: stadsarkiv@kff.kk.dk or +45 33 66 23 70.