The State Archives in Pazin was founded in 1958 under the name Istrian Archives - Pazin. The tradition of keeping archival material in Istria, however, dates back to the 14th century, as evidenced by the statutes of Istrian medieval municipalities, towns and castles.
The first serious attempt to establish archives in Istria was initiated by the National Assembly of Markgrofovija Istra in Poreč (Dieta Provinciale del Margraviato dell’Istria), which after 1871 began collecting original archival material and making transcripts with the aim of establishing the Provincial Archives of Istria. The collection was continued by the Istrian Society for Archaeology and Homeland History (Società Istriana di Archeologia e Storia Patria), but the Provincial Archives were not established.
the State Archives in TriesteDirezione di Archivio di Stato di Trieste) In 1926, in whose jurisdiction was the area of the Istrian province, the period of institutionalized care of archival material began. A part of the material created by the activities of Istrian institutions, from the period of Venetian administration onwards, was taken over into the Trieste archives.
A new initiative for the establishment of archives based in Istria was launched in the first post-war years during the enumeration and documentation of war damage to cultural property at the Area People's Committee for Istria (1945-1947). Until the establishment of the archives in Pazin, the State Archives in Rijeka were responsible for collecting material from Istria, which since 1948 intensively collected material from the Istrian administrative and judicial bodies and carried out basic tasks of its processing and protection. Most of this material was returned to the State Archives in Pazin until 1991.
As part of the development of the archival service and the creation of a network of archives in the territory of the then Republic of Croatia, in the mid-1950s decisions were made on the establishment of archives in areas where they did not exist until then. the People's Committee of Kotar Pula Decision on the establishment of the Kotar Archives of Kotar Pula with headquarters in Pazin. The Archives are Founded Decision of the National Committee of Pula District No. S-194/158 of 20 October 1958 under the name Istrian Archives - Pazin, with jurisdiction over the Croatian part of the Istrian peninsula, i.e. the area of today’s Istria County.
Since its creation, the Archive's area of competence has not changed, while its name has changed three times. From 1960 to 1993, he worked as a Historical Archives - Pazin, from 1993 to 1997 as Historical Archives of Pazin, It has been operating under its current name since 1997. State Archives in Pazin.
Initially, the archive was operating in the Pazin Castle. Due to the increase in the amount of material returned from Rijeka and taken over from the Istrian landlords, the accommodation capacities of Kaštela soon became insufficient. Since the mid-1960s, part of the working spaces and administration of the Archives have been located in the building opposite Kaštel, on the Square of the Istrian Divorce 2.
In 1980, the renovation of the building of the First Croatian Grand State Gymnasium in Pazin was completed in order to combine the activities of the Archive in a more appropriately equipped space. Since then, the administration and most of the workspaces are located in this building, in Vladimir Nazor Street 3.
The latest location of the State Archives in Pazin is a storage room in Bertoš, arranged to increase accommodation capacities and ensure adequate conditions for long-term preservation of materials. The space is equipped with modern storage, protection and monitoring systems and enables safer and better quality archival storage.
Today, the archives of the State Archives in Pazin are kept at four locations: in Pazin Castle, in Istrian Divorce Square 2, in Vladimir Nazor Street 3 and in a storage room in Bertoš.
