Over 1.6 Million Archival Documents Have Been Digitized in the Moscow Region
The Moscow Region has digitized more than 1.6 million archival documents, opening access to centuries‑old metric records and transforming historical research into a fast and accessible digital experience.
Millions of Pages Go Online
The Moscow Region has completed a large‑scale digitization of archival materials, regional officials reported. The effort is part of a nationwide project implemented together with Yandex. The “Archive Search” service was tested in 2023, and in the Moscow Region alone, 1.6 million pages were digitized. These materials include more than 6,500 metric and registry books dating from the late 18th to early 20th centuries.
According to Nadezhda Kurtyanik, the region’s Minister of Public Administration, IT and Communications, users have accessed the archives more than 5.6 million times. Over the past month, the database expanded by an additional 580,000 digital copies. The original documents are preserved at the Central State Archive of the Moscow Region.
New Additions to the Collection
Among the newly digitized materials are metric books from settlements located in what are now the Bogorodsky, Volokolamsky, Dmitrovsky, Krasnogorsky, and other municipal districts.
The project uses advanced optical character recognition technology to process handwritten texts. A specialized neural network interprets old handwriting styles and obsolete alphabet characters, converting difficult‑to‑read entries into printed text within seconds.
To find information, users simply enter a name, a settlement, or any known detail into the search bar. The system instantly displays the corresponding digital copies of historical documents.
These digitized records are invaluable for historians, researchers, and anyone interested in tracing their family lineage. What was once a complex archival search now becomes accessible, convenient, and fast.
