About Greenland National Museum and Archives

Greenland National Museum & Archives consists of two main departments – the museum and archives – each with their own statutory responsibilities.

Through registration, collecting, archiving, conservation, research, and communication activities Greenland National Museum & Archives is to:

• Work for the protection of Greenland’s cultural heritage
• Document Greenlandic culture and natural history
• Makes its collection accessible to the public
• Make its collections available to researchers and disseminate the results of research
• Ensure the preservation of archives of historical value or that provide documentation regarding significant administrative or legal issues for the citizens and authorities of Greenland.
• Ensure that archives not worthy of preservation are discarded
• Ensure public access to the archives

In addition, Greenland National Museum & Archives manage the conservation and other cultural preservation of cultural monuments, including immovable historical monuments, buildings and cultural-historical areas. 

Tasks

The museum's main mission is to collect, preserve, document, research and disseminate the Greenlandic heritage in order to safeguard it. The museum also carries out building retention and preservation of monuments.

The archive's main mission is to safeguard and preserve archival records and is responsible for the collection, organisation, preservation, registration as well as carry out research and disseminate the results in order to expand the knowledge of the development of the Greenlandic cultural history and society.

The museum performs archaeological excavations and inspections and participates in field work throughout Greenland. The museum is also consulted when it comes to land allocation to buildings, roads, airports and the likes, to prevent the construction from destroying past monuments. If necessary, emergency excavations are carried out by the museum.

The archive supervise the self-government and municipal journal systems as well as approve public institutions' journal systems and oversee the archives belonging to the authorities and institutions. The archivists visit every town for inspection every 5 years. The purpose is to ensure that the history of Greenland are preserved.