COURAGE

connecting collections

Although the National Archives of Estonia started operating on 1 January 1999, the system of state archives was formed in the early years of the Republic of Estonia. On 3 March 1920, the Commission for Archives initiated the establishment of the Central State Archives in Tartu to preserve documents from historically important institutions, and the State Archives in Tallinn for documents from institutions that were still active.

During Soviet times, the archives were maintained but were restructured. At that time, the archives were controlled by Moscow.

The old structure was restored in the 1990s. According to the Archives Act adopted in 1998, the National Archives of Estonia started its activities at the beginning of 1999. The new structure included the Historical Archives in Tartu, the State Archives and the Film Archives in Tallinn, and 15 land archives all over Estonia. The structure of the National Archives changed in connection with the construction of the new main building of the archives. By 2017, the National Archives had structural units in Tartu, Tallinn, Rakvere and Valga.

The National Archives have made great efforts to digitise a large number of archival records which are available on its web page for digitalised archival sources, called Saaga.

The National Archives was founded in 1723 as a governmental archives and developed as such up until the socialist period. In 1949, the Archives became an integral part of a centralized archives structure, and its collecting activities extended over regional governmental organizations as well. A new department was established to manage the records of the communist governmental authorities.

Beginning in 1970. the National Archives played an increasingly important role in representing the post-war communist state. In 1970, the Archives was split into two organizations: a historical archives proper, which preserved all pre-1945 records, and a New Central Archives, which collected government records from 1945 excluding, however, party records.

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.