The Departmental Archives of Moselle

In Moselle, the Departmental Archives were truly born in 1809, when the documents, hitherto dispersed, were brought together in a building dedicated to the location of the large stables of the former stewardship hotel, now prefecture. But the documents are rather poorly preserved, in a room that quickly becomes saturated and humid. It was not until the German annexation that things changed: a fire in 1872 convinced the German authorities to undertake work between 1897 and 1900.

In 1918, part of the Ancien Régime and revolutionary archives were sent to Leipzig to prevent a bombing from making them disappear and only returning to Metz between 1920 and 1927. Between 1929 and 1932, new work once again modified the conditions of conservation of documents.

In 1939, the old archives were evacuated to Ligugé Abbey (Vienna) but returned in 1940 on the orders of the German authorities.

In July 1944, part of the funds were sheltered in the fort of Saint-Quentin, but the Metz building was accidentally burned down. Part of the archives is lost forever on this occasion, along with the most precious manuscripts from the Metz municipal library.

As the documentary production of administrations only grows, the prefecture's premises become insufficient to properly accommodate the archives. It was not until 1987 that the project was definitively decided and validated: it would be the Saint-Julien-lès-Metz site.

Opened in 1990, the project was completed in 1991, and the Departmental Archives were reopened to the public in 1992.

The main building of the Departmental Archives in Saint-Julien-lès-Metz was, for around fifteen years, the only place of conservation of the Departmental Archives and therefore brought together all the archives. With the opening of the Moselle Industrial and Technical Archives Center, in Saint-Avold, in 2008-2011, a new distribution of funds took place between the two sites.

Today, the Saint-Julien-lès-Metz site preserves all administrative, judicial and notarial archives from the Middle Ages to the present day, plus archives voluntarily deposited by the municipalities. Added to this are private funds, deposited or donated by individuals or associations.

In total, in 2025, there are 46 km of shelves filled with documents.

All users, whether they are there for professional or personal reasons, are welcomed free of charge and helped by service staff to carry out their research. French law opens archives according to their degree of confidentiality after varying periods of time, but most documents over 50 years old are freely communicable and consultation authorizations can still be granted for documents containing confidential data (private life and mainly court files). All you need to do is show ID to register. Historical or administrative research is carried out on site, but copies of precisely designated documents can be issued (for payment) and a quantity of documents (civil status until 1904 in particular) are available on the Departmental Archives website:🔗 www.archives57.com.