Rue de Ruysbroeck, 2 1000 BRUSSELS Brussels-Capital Region Tel: +32 (0)2/513.76.80 Fax: +32 (0)2/513.76.81 Algemeen.Rijksarchief@arch.be Michel Van der Eycken, chef de Département

With the introduction of the new organization chart of the National Archives and the State Archives in the Provinces in 2005, the Department I, i.e. National Archives and State Archives in the Brussels-Capital Region, was restructured. This Department was born of the union of the former three Departments in Brussels and saw its number of Sections reduce from six to four. These four Sections comprise the entire fonds preserved at the National Archives and State Archives in the Brussels-Capital Region.

The Department I has three main depositories.

• The National Archives, located Rue Ruysbroeck in Brussels, hold all archival fonds of the Ancien Régime and the contemporary period. These fonds are conserved by section 4 and section 5 and are primarily from the federal public services and their legal predecessors as well as from private archives. For more detailed information about the type of documents preserved, please consult the respective presentations of the individual Sections.

• The Archives of the Royal Palace at Rue Ducale in Brussels (Section 6) preserve all archives related to the royal family and the exercise of the royal functions.

• The State Archives in Brussels (Anderlecht) at the Quai Demets in Anderlecht (Section 7) preserve the fonds of the archive producers and their legal predecessors from the Brussels-Capital Region. Furthermore, an important genealogy centre is based in Anderlecht. The Haseldonckx complex is also under the aegis of Section 7. This depository located at the crossing of Rue du Houblon and Rue Vandenbranden in Brussels is currently being expanded and will, in the future, preserve particular fonds such as company archives as well as documentation on the Second World War and the post-war years.
  Find out more about the archives preserved at Rue du Houblon and the modalities of document consultation.

The Department I is also a scientific research unit where researchers can, either within the scope of their day-to-day business or within the framework of particular research projects, carry out research on archival and historical topics.