Mailing address:
Mindaugo 8,
LT-03107 Vilnius, Lithuania
Telephone: +370 5 219 5320, +370 5 213 7482
Fax: +370 5 278 43 69
E-mail: [email protected]
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Working hours: I–IV 8.00–17.00 V 8.00–15.45 |
Reading room opening hours: I, III, IV 8.00–16.30 II 9.30–18.30 |
Aplication forms
Lithuanian State Historical Archives is the main repository of records for the Lithuanian history from the 13th century up to the declaration of the Independence of Lithuania in 1918 (civil registry and vital records up until to ourdays). The records of state institutions, religious communities, popular organizations and families that are maintained in this Archives also reflect the history of Russia, Belarus, Poland, Ukraine, Latvia and other countries.
The documents kept in the Archives comprise 8 large sets:
- Documents of various offices of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania dating back to 15th–18th cc.;
- Fonds of offices and organisations of Vilnius, Kaunas and Suvalkai governorates of Russian Empire, and fonds of commissions responsible for the liquidation of offices to be evacuated to the Soviet Russia (1792–1918);
- Fonds of offices in Lithuania relating to the period of occupation by German Empire (1915–1918);
- Fonds of confessional institutions and communities operating in Lithuania (15th–20th cc.);
- Fonds of private persons and families (15th c.–1941);
- Documents collections (15th–20th cc.);
- Collections of microfilms of documents and collections of digital images of documents (13th–20th cc.);
- Civil vital records (1940–15 August 2007).
At present the total amount of the items preserved is 1,360 million, or over 17,500 linear metres of shelving space.
Access to documents which contain information on personal’s private life and personal data
Access to documents is regulated by the Law on Documents and Archives of the Republic of Lithuania and related legislation particularly Civil Code and the Law on Legal Protection of Personal Data of the Republic of Lithuania.
The article 19 of the Law on Documents and Archives of the Republic of Lithuania, embeds provision of free access to documents without delay period, except those documents the access to which is limited by other laws. Persons shall have the right of access to such documents in accordance with the procedure established by the said laws.
The part 5 of the article 20 of Law on Documents and Archives of the Republic of Lithuania determines fixed restrictions on access to the documents which contain information on person’s private life, as well as to structured sets of personal data - 30 years after the person’s death, and in the event of failure to determine the date of death – for a term of 100 years from his birth. If neither the date of birth nor the date of death of a person is determined, the access shall be limited for a term of 70 years from the creation of the documents. Restrictions on access set in related legislation does not mean, that documents are not accessible at all.
After expiration of these periods, documents are available without any restriction. During the closure period access can be provided according the procedures established by Law on Legal Protection of Personal Data of the Republic of Lithuania.
Information on archives services
The Lithuanian State Historical Archives maintain vital records books (birth, marriage and death) of the different religious communities and churches of today’s Lithuania dating up to 1940 and civil registration records up to 2008 year; documents about the nobility of different families from Vilnius ( Vilno ), Kaunas ( Kovno ) and Augustavas gubernias. There is no computer data-base in our archives. The whole search is being done through the vital records by hand page to page.
Therefore, for the search we must to have precise information: name, surname, names of parents, brothers, sisters, confession (religion), dates of birth, marriage or death, place, church (parish), ect. Copies of old documents would be helpful in our search.
Archives provide paid services relating to the search of documents, according the price-list that was confirmed by the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania on June 8, 2011.
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