Three bidders, representing the government of the Ivanovo region, were successful in their attempt to buy the highly important archive of material which had a pre-sale estimate of 80,000-100,000 pounds.
"The archive was purchased at the initiative of the government of the Ivanovo region in order to preserve the heritage of a genius film director in his homeland, the city of Yurevets in Russia," one of the bidders said.
"The archive will be placed on public view in the Tarkovsky memorial house museum in the Ivanovo Region. It will become a welcome addition for visitors of the museum as well as for guests and participants of the annual International film festival of A Tarkovsky called the Mirror," the bidder said.
Tarkovsky was the most important Russian director since Sergei M Eisenstein, whose surreal films marked a turning point in the history of world cinematography.
The archive, pertaining to the years 1967-1986, sheds new light on the film-making techniques, private life and artistic struggle of the filmmaker who famously fought to gain acceptance for his work in the erstwhile USSR.
The collection of several thousand working manuscripts, personal photographs, recordings and private documents - including a draft letter addressed to President Leonid Brezhnev arguing Tarkovsky's case for working in the Soviet Union was offered in Sotheby's sale of Music, Continental and Russian Books and Manuscripts.
"We are thrilled with the outstanding total that the Tarkovsky archive achieved at auction today. The tenacious and prolonged bidding which we witnessed is testament to the archive's international importance," said Stephen Roe, Sotheby's Worldwide Head of Books and Manuscripts.