Early intervention of firefighters, employees and volunteers managed to save precious archival documents in the Slovak Mining Archive (SBA), part of which belongs to the UNESCO list, from the fire in Banská Štiavnica. The main building of the archive is located in the neighbourhood of the centre of the fire that broke out on the roof of the so-called Love Bank building. This is reported by the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic. The District Office in Banská Štiavnica has covered the other parts of the most endangered archive funds to prevent them from getting soaked. The Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic decided to send a specialised restoration team from the Slovak National Archives to examine the possible consequences of the fire on the archival documents. The restorers will then propose all necessary steps to protect the documents of the national archival heritage of incalculable historical value. The Slovak Mining Archive is a specialised department of the Slovak National Archives. The main task of the archive is to collect, professionally process and scientifically make available archival documents from the field of mining, metallurgy, geology and related industries from the whole territory of Slovakia. It manages more than 360 archive collections of almost 6000 linear metres from the 16th century to the present day. Among the most valuable are the documents and maps of the Hlavný komorskogrófsky úrad v Banskej Štiavnici or the Chamber-County Office in Banská Štiavnica from 1524 to 1919, which are included in the documentary heritage of mankind - the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.
Source: TASR
