Archives Departementales

What Archives Departementales does

The Archives du département du Rhône et de la métropole de Lyon is a public government archival institution founded in 1796 under the law of 5 brumaire an V and headquartered at 34 rue du général Mouton-Duvernet in Lyon, France. It serves as the legally mandated archival authority for the Rhône department and Lyon metropolitan area, with 18 staff responsible for collecting, classifying, preserving, and communicating historical records from public administrations, jurisdictions, and qualifying private archives. The institution manages 8 million digitized pages (over 6 million accessible online), a 25,000-volume historical library, and 1,260+ classified historic objects plus 2,050 inscribed objects under the Conservation des antiquités et objets d'art service established in 1973.

Core service delivery rests on a two-channel platform: a physical reading room open Tuesday-Friday in Lyon, and the archives.rhone.fr digital portal powered by Mnesys Archives (back-office management) and Mnesys Expo (public website platform), both developed by Naoned Systèmes. Specialized online search interfaces cover parish and civil records (from 1527), population censuses (1836-1936), Napoleonic and renovated cadastres, notarial records (1380-1946), and iconographic collections, supported by a collaborative nominative indexation platform that allows external contributors to participate in document indexing. All services are free of charge.

The institution's business model is non-commercial: it is fully funded by its two governing public authorities, the Département du Rhône and the Métropole de Lyon, and generates no revenue from users. Customer segments are diversified across school groups (5,500 students/teachers served in 2024-2025), university students and researchers, genealogists, and public heritage institutions. Strategic partnerships with INA (cultural programming), SGLB and Généagier (digitization), FranceConnect (identity), and France's leading archival schools (École nationale des chartes, ENSSIB, INP, Lyon 3) extend the institution's reach beyond its 18-person core team.

Name

Archives Departementales

Legal name

Archives du département du Rhône et de la métropole de Lyon

Website

https://archives.rhone.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

1796

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Archives du département du Rhône et de la métropole de Lyon is a public government archival institution serving the Rhône department and Lyon metropolitan area. Founded in 1796 and staffed by 18 people, it preserves and provides free public access to 8 million digitized historical pages, 25,000+ library volumes, and 1,260+ classified heritage objects.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Lyon

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Others

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Archives Departementales is a public government archival institution that collects, classifies, preserves, and communicates historical documents from the Rhône department and Lyon metropolitan area, from the 15th century to present. It operates a physical reading room in Lyon and an online portal providing free 24/7 access to over 8 million digitized pages (6 million+ for online consultation) including civil records, population censuses, cadastral maps, notarial archives, military records, and iconographic collections. Beyond archive access, the institution delivers cultural programming (exhibitions, conferences, screenings), educational programs for schools and adult learners, paleography training courses, and heritage conservation services for over 1,260 classified historic objects.

Product overview

The Archives départementales du Rhône et de la métropole de Lyon operates as a government archives service offering both physical and digital access to archival collections. The digital presence is built on Mnesys Archives (the internal management system) and Mnesys Expo (the public-facing website platform), both developed by Naoned Systèmes. The online archives portal provides searchable access to over 8 million digitized pages through specialized search interfaces for civil records, population censuses, cadastral maps, notarial archives, and iconographic collections. Beyond digital access, the service offers educational programs including paleography courses, cultural events and exhibitions (both on-site and traveling), a historical library with special collections, and archival consultation services. The archives are accessible online via the Mnesys Expo-powered website and physically at the reading room in Lyon.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Archives en ligne (Online Archives Portal)

Quantifiable outcome

• 5,500 students and teachers welcomed during 2024-2025 school year
• +4 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability3 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Société généalogique du Lyonnais et du Beaujolais (SGLB)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on ongoing digitization of notary records. The operation currently covers only a small portion of the total collection but represents a strategic partnership for genealogical research. Archives work together with SGLB to make notarial records (1380-1946) more accessible.
• Association GénéagierminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on notary archives digitization project. Partner in the ongoing operation to digitize and make accessible notarial records of Lyon and surrounding areas.
• Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegular partnership for conferences and projections held in the auditorium. Monthly 'Rendez-vous avec l'Ina' events featuring screenings and discussions about archival footage. Collaboration to bring audiovisual content and historical context to audiences.
• Naoned SystèmescoreTechnology or IntegrationSoftware editor providing Mnesys Archives (archive management system) and Mnesys Expo (website platform). Naoned has been developing software dedicated to heritage archive management since 2007, serving over 135 clients and 600 users including this archives service.
• Département du RhônecoreOthersParent governmental authority overseeing the Archives départementales et métropolitaines. The Department is responsible for the service's funding, organization, and strategic direction.
• Métropole de LyoncoreOthersCo-governing authority alongside the Département du Rhône. The archives serve both governmental entities and their territories.
• Métro Line B and DminorOthersPublic transportation partners providing access via Metro lines B (Gare Part-Dieu Vivier-Merle) and D (Sans-souci or Garibaldi stations) and Tram T4 (Archives départementales stop).
• Université Lyon 3 (master d'archivistique)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPriority partnership for hosting archive students in Master 1 or 2 of archival studies. Partnership agreement gives priority to students from this university. Also humanités numériques program students accepted.
• École nationale des chartescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPriority accepted for internships from students of the École nationale des chartes, France's premier archival training institution.
• École nationale supérieure des sciences de l'information et des bibliothèques (ENSSIB)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPriority internship acceptance for students from ENSSIB, France's leading institution for library and information science education.
• Institut national du patrimoine (INP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAccepts conservator interns from INP upon proposal from the institute's study direction.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Archives départementales de la Gironde: Departmental archives for the Gironde department (Bordeaux). Operates the same archival mission within a single department, including digitized online portals (using Mnesys Expo - same technology platform), research assistance, and cultural programming. Operates the Cité des archives facility in Bordeaux.
• Archives départementales des Bouches-du-Rhône: Departmental archives for the Bouches-du-Rhône department (Marseille region). Comparable in mandate, scope (one department), and operational model: physical reading room, online digitized portal, educational programming, and cultural exhibitions. One of the largest and most digitized departmental archives in France.
• Archives départementales du Nord: Departmental archives for the Nord department (Lille). Direct counterpart operating the same departmental archival mandate, with online digitized portals, reading room access, and educational programming for a single French department.
• Archives nationales d'outre-mer: A specialized site of the Archives nationales located in Aix-en-Provence, focused on France's colonial and overseas archives. Comparable in operating within the French national archives system as a specialized archive with reading room access, digitization efforts, and historical research support.
• Archives départementales du Finistère: Departmental archives for the Finistère department (Brittany). Comparable in providing digitized online access to departmental records, managing conservation services, and delivering cultural and educational programming within a single department.
• Archives municipales de Lyon: The municipal archives service for the city of Lyon, operating in the same city with a parallel but more locally-scoped mandate (communal records vs departmental). Both institutions serve Lyon researchers, share overlapping user bases, and operate public reading rooms and digital portals within the same metropolitan area.
• Archives départementales de Paris: Departmental archives serving Paris. Comparable in providing access to civil records, censuses, and notarial archives at the departmental level, with online digitized collections and reading room access. Operates within a dense urban context similar to the Rhône archives' Lyon metropolitan context.
• Musée des Archives nationales: The museum component of the French national archives, located at the Hôtel de Soubise in Paris. Combines archival preservation with public exhibitions and cultural programming, mirroring the dual archival-exhibition function of the Rhône departmental archives. Comparable in delivering cultural heritage interpretation from archival collections.
• Archives nationales: The French national archives service, headquartered at the Hôtel de Soubise in Paris and the Pierrefitte-sur-Seine site. Operates the same archival mandate (collecting, classifying, conserving, and communicating public records) at the national level, with overlapping functions in digitization (Salle des inventaires virtuelle), exhibitions, and educational programming. Directly comparable in mission and operational model.

Broad incumbents

• Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF): France's national library, operating a much broader mandate (all printed and digital cultural heritage) but overlapping on the historical library, special collections, and digital access functions. Comparable for the Bibliothèque historique component and Digitized Collections portal (Gallica), but operates at national rather than departmental scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCVXisPAtRorOzafc2l8vt4A
• Facebookfacebook.com/Archives69
• Instagraminstagram.com/archives_rhone_metropole
• Xtwitter.com/Archives_Rhone
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/archives-departementales

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Archives Departementales