1992 – 1996
During the mayoralty of Leonidas Kouris (Mayor’s Decision No. 69985/31-7-1992), a committee was formed with the aim of drafting a proposal for the creation of a Historical Archive of the Municipality of Athens, consisting of Eleftherios Skiadas, Aglaia Stavrianopoulou, Stamatia Efthymiopoulou, Sotiria Nousi, and Charalambos Boziaris. Presidential Decree 1140/1993 established the Municipal Archives Office of the City of Athens. During the mayoralty of Dimitris Avramopoulos (under no. 123541/ 15-11-1996 decision of the Mayor), a committee was formed with the aim of developing a comprehensive proposal for the creation of a Historical Research Archive and the utilization and organization of the Libraries. Its members were Panos Kazakos, Nikolaos Karapidakis, Eleni Tsougeraki, Charikleia Dimakopoulou, and Eleftherios Skiadas.
2003
The Archival Service of the Municipality of Athens was established in 2003 on the recommendation of the then Deputy Mayor Kalliopi Bourdara (under decision no. 129416/2003 of Mayor Dora Bakoyannis “on the establishment of an archival service”). The impetus for this was the discovery of the minutes of the Athens City Council from the 19th century, which were found in poor condition in the basement of City Hall. Subsequently, a Supervisory Board was appointed to assist the archival service in its early stages (Mayor’s decision no. 129417/02-10-2003). Its members were:
- Καλλιόπη (Κέλλυ) Μπουρδάρα, Καθηγήτρια Νομικής Σχολής Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών – Αντιδήμαρχος Δημοσίων Σχέσεων και Διεθνούς Συνεργασίας
- Νικόλαος Καραπιδάκης, Καθηγητής Ιστορικού Τμήματος Ιονίου Πανεπιστημίου
- Δημήτριος Αποστολόπουλος, Δ/ντής Ερευνών του Εθνικού Ιδρύματος Ερευνών
- Νικόλαος Παντελάκης Αρχειονόμος Εθνικής Τράπεζας Ελλάδος
- Εμμανουήλ Βασιλάκης, Δημοσιογράφος
- Ευγενία Κεφαλληναίου, Δ/ντρια Εθνικής Βιβλιοθήκης
The Archive was housed on the first floor of the building at 70 Ipirou Street & Liossion Street. Its staff were trained at the Historical Archive of the National Bank.
2005
The responsibilities of the Supervisory Board were transferred to the Historical Archive, an autonomous department under the Mayor’s Office (amendment to the Internal Service Organization of the Municipality of Athens, Government Gazette B’ 1828/23-12-2005). At that time, priority was given to microfilming the Minutes of the Municipal Council 1841-1900, which constituted the first collection.
2007
During Nikitas Kaklamanis’s term as mayor, municipal councilor and deputy mayor Eleftherios Skiadas was appointed head of the Historical Archive. Microfilms from the former Microphotography Department of the Municipality of Athens were collected, and a group of students began indexing the Municipal Council Minutes from 1841 to 1900. At the same time, the historical album ATHINA (ATHENS, 1888) was republished and collaborations with other institutions were promoted.
2012 – 2019
During Giorgos Kaminis’s term as mayor, the Municipal and Historical Archives Department was supervised successively by Deputy Mayors Fotis Provatas (2013-2015) and Amalia Zepou (2015-2019).
With O.E.Y. 2012 (Government Gazette B’ 58/25-01-2012), the Archive was incorporated into the Decentralization and Administration Directorate as the Municipal & Historical Archive Department and acquired responsibilities in two complementary areas: the municipal archive (current archive of services) and the historical archive (collections). It maintains a similar organisational structure in the new O.E.Y. (Government Gazette B’ 5713/19-12-2018).
In this context, he formulated the archival policy of the Municipality of Athens, established a network of liaison officers based on the model of the G.A.K. (General Archives of the State) and, as a matter of priority, designed and supervised the cataloguing of archival material in municipal services, an action that was implemented by the Archives of Contemporary Social History (A.S.K.I.). He also took the initiative to rescue and acquire documents, set up archival sections, and compile research tools.
2019 – 2024
During the mayoralty of Konstantinos P. Bakoyannis, the deputy mayor Eleftherios G. Skiadas took over as deputy mayor of the Historical Archive. Skiadas, who, from his early years in local government, had shown an active interest and taken initiatives to create the Historical Archive of the Municipality of Athens. As mentioned above, he had served as head of the department during Nikitas Kaklamanis’s term as mayor.
The Historical Archive seeks partnerships and develops extroverted activities, promoting local history and the history of local government as new fields of research. Its concern is the preservation of documents and their availability for research. Furthermore, it documents and organises them into collections, as individual sections of a particular narrative: the history of the municipality and, by extension, the city of Athens.
2024 – σήμερα
During the mayoralty of Haris Doukas, the Municipal and Historical Archives Department, at his request, was recognized as a Special Historical Archive by the Ephorate of the General Archives of Greece. In 2025, the relocation of the Archive to a historic building in the Makrygianni area, donated by the American Legion, was completed.