The Košice City Archives is the first self-government archives in the network of public archives in Slovakia. It is the oldest cultural institution of the city and belongs to one of the most remarkable archives in Slovakia from the point of view of maintaining the medieval material and its completeness. Fonds and collections give authentic testimony about the history of the city and its beginnings to almost nowadays. Townsmen from Košice shared the opinion that the soul of the city is the archives and therefore payed significant attention to their documents over the centuries. Not many archives in Slovakia can boast with such care that was given to the Košice City Archives in the past. The oldest archival finding aids, which greatly exceeded contemporary required standards and served as an example to other archives, testify to this fact. The material from the last 800 years significantly documents the political, economical, social and cultural development of Košice and the villages owned by the city, or where the city owned properties. It is a testimony of the unique role and credit of Košice in the history of the country and reflects the attitude and relationship of Košice to many significant European and domestic places.
Archival sources kept in the Košice City Archives constitute a part of the Slovak cultural heritage. The fundamental task of preserving, protecting and providing access to the documents makes up one of the key tasks of this institution apart from presenting and promoting the archival wealth. The Košice City Archives provides the access to archival documents for personal and official purposes either by studying them in the archives' study hall or by creating extracts, transcripts and certificates of archival documents for administrative purposes. The Košice City Archives would like to welcome the public and the persons interested in studying the history of the city in the archives' study hall.
