Historical and administrative fonds

1917. Division of fonds

The recently created City Council Culture Committee decided to reorganise the Municipal Archives:

Division of its fonds into historical and administrative fonds, with the date of the Nova Planta Decree (1714) as the dividing line, in two buildings and operating under separate organisational arrangements.
Purchase and remodelling of the old Casa de l’Ardiaca (Archdeacon’s House) in 1919 to turn it into the headquarters of the Historic Archives of the City of Barcelona (AHCB).
Acquisition of supplementary fonds for the city’s history: printed material, bibliography, cartography, photography, personal, guild and institutional archives, and so on, under the archivist, historian and archaeologist Agustí Duran i Santpere, who was appointed as the AHCB’s director.

1921. Casa de l’Ardiaca

A start was made in moving the documents considered to be of a historical nature in 1921 and, a year later, the new AHCB facilities were officially opened in Casa de l’Ardiaca, Carrer de Santa Llúcia, 1.

1938. We avoid the bombs

Although the Historical Archives’ fonds were not in any serious danger in the early years of the Civil War, in 1938 they were moved to house number 45 on Carrer de Sant Gervasi because it was less exposed to the bombs.

When the war finished in 1939, the AHCB documents were returned to their home in Casa de l’Ardiaca, together with other private documents whose owners, grateful to Agustí Duran i Sanpere for saving them, donated them to the archives.

1946. An end to the pilgrimage

The Administrative Archives, which kept the documents created after the City Council was constituted in 1833, remained in the City Council building. Subsequently, and following a long pilgrimage round various places, it was moved to a building at Carrer dels Templers, 3-5.

1961. Last move

Finally, the Administrative Archives were moved to its current location at Carrer Bisber Caçador, 4. Over the years, various projects have been carried out to adapt the building to the Archives’ needs.

Aerial view of the crossroads where Via Laietana meets the current Av. de la Catedral in 1925, which shows that the buildings were no longer there after the expansion following the Civil War.

Aerial view of the surroundings of the current Plaça Antoni Maura, March 1925. Gaspar. AFB

Colorful drawing in perspective that shows how the Montjuïc mountain space would be built for the 1929 International Exposition

Overview of the Montjuïc mountain development project for the 1929 International Exposition. AMCB

A black and white photograph showing a room with shelves full of books and a table with books on display; several people at one side of the table are looking at two others consulting a book.

The president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Francesc Macià visits the Historic Archives of the City of Barcelona. 1931. Josep Domínguez. AFB

A black and white photograph showing shelves full of books containing old records with a figure in a grey coat in the middle pointing to one of the volumes.

Transferred from the Audiència archives during the war to keep it safe. Pérez de Rozas. AFB

Details of a person’s official identification document issued by the Barcelona Provincial Council in 1942.

Personal certificate issued by the Barcelona Provincial Council in 1942. AHCB