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Libraries and archives

The Staatliche Museen zu Berlin boasts a scientific and scholarly infrastructure of national and international importance, not merely through its voluminous collections, but also through its libraries and archives.

Essentially divided into a library of art and design and the Archaeological Library, the Kunstbibliothek is the central storehouse of learning at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Besides the Kunstbibliothek, however, there are numerous specialist and reference libraries, housed within the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin individual collections and institutions. The Kunstbibliothek also oversees their technical and administrative organization.

The Zentralarchiv (Central Archive) is a historical research site and acts as the ‘historical memory’ of the various museums. It holds historical records relating to the history of the organization known today as the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, known formerly as the Royal Museums in Berlin. The archive’s core task is to preserve, analyze, and make accessible to the research community the archival holdings, documentary legacies, and collections over which it presides, all the while by observing professional records-management principles and practices. The Zentralarchiv also coordinates systematic provenance research on works in the various collections of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.