Cologne archive building collapses.

• Position: ARCHIVES - Brief article

The six-story archive building in Cologne, Germany, collapsed in early March, claiming at least two lives and centuries of historically important records and artifacts.

Cracks and groaning noises alerted archive staff and visitors to the impending collapse, and they all escaped unharmed. At least two individuals near the building at the time of the collapse were not as fortunate. Early media reports said the collapse appeared to be connected to nearby tunneling work for a new underground train line.

The archive building was built in 1971 and contained more than 16 miles of shelf space and 65,000 original documents dating from the year 922, as well as 104,000 maps, 50,000 posters, and 500,000 photographs depicting life in Cologne through the ages, according to the archive's website.

The collection included manuscripts by Communist philosophers Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels and treasures given to the city by luminaries such as Nobel Prize-winning author Heinrich Boell. Cologne also housed the largest collection of works by composer...