Our reading rooms are open again - Make an appointment!
As from 16 June 2020, all reading rooms of the State Archives are open again for the large public, upon appointment and wearing a face mask is mandatory.
- Reservation of workspace in the reading room must be made by e-mail to the State Archives in question at least 2 workdays before the visit. You can find the contact details of our repositories here. Please consult the special preventive measures against Coronavirus/COVID-19 to best prepare your visit.
- Meanwhile, we continue to extend the online valorisation of archives and finding aids.
- In order to somewhat alleviate the effects of the long closure of our reading rooms, all scheduled repository inventorying activities for 2020 are cancelled.
- All public events, colloquia, group visits, receptions, book presentations, training sessions, etc. are cancelled until 1 September 2020.
- During the summer months, the reading rooms will continue to close between noon and 1.00 pm.
Stay up-to-date via this page or and our Facebook page.
ArchPoll Results!
No less than 2,888 people cast their vote the past few days: a number that far exceeded our expectations! We would like to thank all voters for their participation. It turned out to be an experiment that clearly tastes like more. And we take your preference into account! The top 10, that emerged from ArchPoll, are already online:
- Vrijgeleiden uit Wereldoorlog I (No. 414-607)
- Brabantse volkstellingen (17de-18de eeuw) (No. 314-405)
- Vonnisboeken van de Raad van Vlaanderen (14de-18de eeuw) (No. 164-170, 2327-2605 en 8557-8596)
- Vonnisboeken van de Grote Raad van Mechelen (1475-1794) (No. 977-1045)
- Archief van de Raad van Beroerten (1567-1576) (No. 1-400)
- Penningkohieren in het archief van de Audiëntie (1569-1574) (No. 618/1-39)
- Kortrijkse poortersboeken (1413-1796) (No. 1-5)
- Archief van de oude universiteit Leuven (15de-18de eeuw) (No. 3, 22-29, 51-88, 99, 273-286, 288, 298-306, 387-391, 502-511, 689, 710-725, 812-815, 4751-4755)
- Kortrijkse wezerijregisters (1403-1796) (No. 1-179)
- Repertoria van notarisarchieven uit Bergen (19de-20ste eeuw) (No. 1-57)
Click here for an overview of the digitized archives. Attention! Not all files can be consulted from home.
UPDATE January 2020: Belgian civil status registers and church registers online!
Over 36.4 million pages of genealogical sources (civil status registers and church registers) are now available on the website of the State Archives.
Millions of archive documents become available for free at home. 28,242 church registers (including tables) conserved at the different State Archives repositories and their additions by other archives institutions become available online.
The digitisation of the civil status registers has not yet been completed. The digital images will progressively be added to our website. Whenever ten-year tables are available they are also scanned.
The digitised documents can be viewed for free, but you need to register and get your login and password via our website.
Overview of civil status registers
Overview of church registers
Collection of cadastre maps and documents online!
From now on, the search engine ‘Search archives’ also allows you to find some 23,423 digital images of ‘primitive cadastral maps’ and some 61,530 digital images of the ‘minutes of measurement’ setting the municipal boundaries. These scans originate from the Federal Public Service Finance and can be accessed via the following links:
Primitive cadastral maps
Minutes of measurement
Consultation is free but if you wish to access the actual images, you need to have a login and password, which you can obtain on the website.
Click here to watch the clip
Search engine instruction clip online!
The State Archives conserves over 315 kilometers of archives. Each year, at least 10 km are added after appraisal. So, how do you search this vast treasure of information? Use the search engine. Ths instruction clip shows you, after a brief presentation of the State Archives, practical hints about how to get the most out of our powerful search engines.
Click here to watch the instruction clip via YouTube