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Working hours
of the Archive:
on Mondays & Fridays
10:00- 15:00
on Tuesdays & Thursdays
09:00-16:00
on Wednesdays
13:00-17:00
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The Archive was founded in 1963 on the basis of the collection of the Department of the photo-documents of Latvia State Historical Archive. The depositories of the Archive contain approximately 24 thousand films dated from 1910 till nowadays. The oldest record from 1910 tells about The Russian Tsar Nikolai the II visit in Riga. There are the silent-film chronicles of the first half of the 20th century, "Latvia Film Chronicles"(1921-1933), "Latvia Sound Chronicles"(1933-1940), Latvian documentary and feature films, chronicles from the period of Nazi occupation "Ostlandwoche" and "Wocheschau". The visual records from the Soviet occupation period are represented most extensively - thematic newsreels "Soviet Latvia", "Art", "Sport Revenue", etc., as well as documentary films and also feature films produced in Latvia.
The Archive keeps more then 508 thousand photo records, the first one being dated from 1865. Mostly there are negatives, but of great interest are also family albums from the alternation of century, thematically arranged albums used as present to the Latvia State Presidents, sets of post-cards with the views of Riga and other towns of Latvia. The photographic records are ensured with negative doublings.
The number of sound recordings exceeds a little bit more than and 30 thousand units. Among the most interesting and significant materials should be mentioned the originals of the matrices from the sound recording factory "Bellakkord"(1920-1940) and records of the sound recording studio "Melodija", bearing the sound recordings of Latvian musicians and composers, and literary - dramatic pieces of Latvian writers and poets. The most valuable acquisition from the period of Awakening are the recording of the plenary sessions of the Supreme Soviet of Latvia S.S.R., later The Saeima, which were transferred to the Archive since 1993.
The collection is constantly increasing due to the close co-operation with mass media of Latvia and other producers of audio-visual records.
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