Funding Initiative for Municipal Archives 2025-2026

The funding initiative Municipal Archives 2025–2026 supports public institutions in Lower Austria in securing and preserving historical records in the long term. Funding is provided for infrastructural measures, technical investments, as well as restoration and conservation work. External experts carry out organization and inventory tasks to systematically process archives and ensure accessibility. The funding objective is the sustainable safeguarding of municipal document collections in accordance with the provisions of the Lower Austrian Cultural Funding Act 1996 and the associated guidelines.

Eligible to apply are municipalities of the federal state of Lower Austria with their own municipal archive. An application requires the completed form including the calculation sheet. Additionally, a precise project description, a brief presentation of the archive, and the naming of responsible persons must be submitted. A professional review is conducted by experts from the Lower Austrian State Archive. Eligible expenses include structural adaptations, digital and analog processing procedures, conservation restorations, and organizational inventories. Submissions are possible until 31 December 2026 at the latest. The budget is provided as a direct grant, the amount of which is determined on a project-specific basis. Municipalities wishing to make their archival holdings future-proof will find tailored support for archive development and preservation in this measure.