The Archives Nationales (French: Archives nationales de France), also known as the French Archives or the National Archives, preserve the official archives of France apart from the archives of the Ministry of the Armies and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as these two ministries have their own archive services, the Defence Historical Service (Service historique de la défense) and Diplomatic Archives (Archives diplomatiques) respectively. The Archives Nationales have one of the largest and most important archival collections in the world, a testimony to the very ancient nature of the French state which has been in existence for more than twelve centuries already.
