The State Archive can look back on a long history that is closely linked to the development of Mecklenburg. Already in the 15th century an archive of documents of the Mecklenburg dukes can be found at Schwerin Castle. In the 16th and 17th century, the residences in Schwerin and Güstrow were home to special chancellery archives, which formed the basis for the main archive after the last division of the main land in Schwerin in 1701. After further additions in 1779, it was united with the document archive to form the Secret and Main Archive of the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

1909 - 1911 the current archive building at the Burgsee was built according to the plans of the architect Paul Ehmig. After the Second World War, the preservation and repatriation of the stored material was a main priority. The dissolution of the state of Mecklenburg and the formation of the northern districts in the former GDR resulted in extensive access to files from 1952 onwards, which finally led to the establishment of a branch office in the former Marstall building in Ludwigslust. The Mecklenburg State Archives were responsible for the two districts of Schwerin and Neubrandenburg.

Since the re-establishment of the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in 1990, the document fund has been considerably enriched by the takeover of files of the dissolved state and economic bodies as well as the former parties and mass organizations.

On 01.01.2006 the Landeshauptarchiv Schwerin was transferred to the newly established Landesamt für Kultur und Denkmalpflege.

Address:

Landeshauptarchiv Schwerin
Graf-Schack-Allee 2
19053 Schwerin
Phone: +49 385-588791 11
Fax: +49 385-588794 12
E-Mail: poststelle@lakd-mv.de
www.kulturwerte-mv.de/Landearchiv/The-Archives-in-English/