The Archives of the Republic of Srpska is a state-level archival center located in the city of Banjaluka, the Republic of Srpska – Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Archives is an institution which is based on a special legal framework and it operates as a part of the state administration of the Republic of Srpska. It is entrusted with a dual mandate: the safekeeping of historical archival holdings and the supervision over public record-keeping and records management.
The Archives was established in 1992. Its understructure and background, however, were not of recent origin, as the Archives incorporated three archival institutions that were at that time located on the territory of the newly established Serb Republic, later the Republic of Srpska. Its headquarters was based in the Archives of Bosanska Krajina in Banjaluka (est. 1953), which used to be the largest intermunicipal archives in Yugoslavia. It also took under its wing the Regional Archives in Doboj (est. 1954) and the Regional Archives in Foča (est. 1982). In doing so, the new Archives took into custody all of their historical holdings, inventory and employees. During the 2000s, it expanded its network and established new regional offices in Zvornik, Sokolac and Trebinje.
The Archives of the Republic of Srpska holds over five linear kilometers of archival records and nearly twenty thousand library units (books, periodicals etc.). Most of it is deposited in the repositories in Banjaluka. Its historical holdings are composed of archival record groups (or fonds) and collections spanning from the time of the Austro-Hungary (from 1878) to the present, with the exception of older, mostly Oriental language manuscripts. The provenance structure of the holdings encompasses every major facet of social life, with creators from community and municipal to county and regional levels, including governing bodies, agencies, organizations, associations, enterprises and individuals. From 1992, the Archives is entrusted with the records of many entities established by the Republic, including various ministries, agencies and companies. Besides paper documents, the Archives holds an extensive amount of publications, photographs, posters and other media.
Research and information
Individuals who are not citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina may use our holdings under the same conditions, after a formal approval is issued by the director. Public archival records can be accessed after 30 years have passed since they were created. For minority, special parts of the holdings, other rules apply, as defined by laws and bylaws.
The languages in the records are mostly local, written in Latin or Cyrillic script, by hand and machine-typed. For more information visit our holdings lists or contact us via email (see below).
International cooperation
The Archives of the Republic of Srpska is an internationally engaged institution which cooperates with many regional and foreign archival and other cultural establishments and associations. The Archives is a part of the ICARUS community. Its employees are internationally active in both professional and academic venues, mostly through historiography and information studies.
The Archives of the Republic of Srpska is open for international cooperation, project proposals, including exhibition, round-table and conference hosting, as well as other forms of communication and exchange. For more information, contact us via email (see below).
Contact us
- Address: Aleja Sv. Save 1, 78000 Banjaluka, Bosnia-Herzegovina
- Phone: +387 51 340 240
- Email: arhivrs@inecco.net
- Director: bojan.stojnic@arhivrs.org
- Assistant director: vladanv@live.com