The National Archives of Georgia (საქართველოს ეროვნული არქივი) is the legal entity of public law under the Ministry of Justice of the nation of Georgia. The National Archives holds written documents, film documents, photos, and audio records, with a collection totaling more than five million items. The documents in the Archives are official, and their preservation has been established by law. Some of the preserved documents include texts from the First Republic, scientific archives, the parish books that hold information about the christening and the death of citizens, the gospel of the 9th century, Anchi gospel (12th century), Kings' deeds, private letters, verdicts, other legal monuments, photos from the 19th century, first film documents, and the documents of different state or private structures.

The History of the National Archives

According to documents within the Archives, the law that established what is now the national archives was passed and the archives were established by the government of what was then the Democratic Republic of Georgia on April 23, 1920. Following Sovietization, a decree passed on July 1, 1921 governed the archival procedures under the Georgian SSR. As of 2004, operations of the archive fell within the State Department of Archives of Georgia, a part of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia and Law 71 by the Minister, passed on March 12, 2007, established the National Archives of Georgia as a legal entity. A new building was constructed in the 1960s as the prior building did not meet fire and other codes for historic preservation. A 2023 fire destroyed some items and raised concern for renewed criticism about the state of the archives' buildings. A new media center was announced in 2017 to showcase the archive's extensive film collection and the theatre opened in 2018.

Collection

The Central Historical Archive, located in Tbilisi, is the main hub for historical documents and the archives contain many documents pertaining to the ancient history of what is now Georgia. Among the items in the collection are: The manuscript is dated from the 10th c.; in terms of the text version, it follows one of the earliest Georgian translations of the Psalter. In 2015 Psalter 1446/171 was inscribed to UNESCO Memory of the World Register. In 2006, the Archives expanded to include the Central Historical Archive of Georgia and the National Archive of Kutaisi, also known as the Kutaisis State Historical Archives.