Its primary purpose is to collect, preserve and archive historically valuable records from central authorities, such as ministries, agencies and national organisations and make them available to the public.

In the early Middle ages, the majority of records keep by Danish monarchs were packed into chests which accompanied them on their travels around the kingdom.

[3] In 1720, the Royal Archives were again relocated near the former chancery building, to be housed at the same location as the Gehejmearkivet (lit.

The resulting merger formed the National Archives (Danish: Rigsarkivet).

In 2014, the State Archives were again restructured; the entire organization was centralized under one name and governing body.

Until 2015, the archives also had a reading room in Aarhus; its collections have since been moved to Viborg.

Today, the headquarters of the Danish National Archives, Copenhagen are located at Proviantgården, next to Christiansborg Palace on Slotsholmen.

The archives of the Danish overseas trading companies were inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 1997.

[9] The Sound Toll Records, which provide detailed information about every ship and cargo that entered the Baltic and departed from the Baltic through the Danish straits starting in the 15th century, are held at the Danish National Archives and in 2007, the collection was inscribed on the Memory of the World Register.

A large handle on the end of each shelf allows them to be moved along tracks in the floor to create an aisle when needed.

[citation needed] The Provincial Archives of Funen (Danish: Landsarkivet for Fyn) first opened in Odense on 1 November 1893.

[8] They collected source material about Danish business development through time.