Kansallisarkisto

The National Archives of Finland (Finnish: Kansallisarkisto, Swedish: Riksarkivet) is a Finnish government agency under the Ministry of Education and Culture. It is responsible for archiving official documents of the Finnish state and municipalities. It consists of three locations in the capital Helsinki and seven former regional archives, which were incorporated into the National Archives in 2017 and have since been its branches. The task of the National Archives is to ensure official documents forming a part of national heritage are preserved. It is the official Finnish authority in archiving, and promotes the preservation of documents located in private archives. In addition, the National Archives provides their stored documents for research use and participates in research and development activities. The National Archives is also the authority in heraldry. It ratifies all heraldic emblems used by the government, municipalities and church, and flags used by yacht clubs and military units. Its library has special collections on archiving, heraldry and sigillography. The archives was created in 1816 as part of the Senate of Finland. The present Swedish name was adopted in 1939 and the present Finnish name in 1994. It was in 1939 it also became a central government agency of its own.