How we are organised

A whole network of archive bodies and centres

The Barcelona Municipal Archives (AMB) are governed by a set of regulations that regulate the functions of each archive centre and provide a legal basis for the AIDA (Integrated Document and Archives Administration) system.

You can download the PDF Barcelona Municipal Archives Regulations.

Municipal Archives System Management

This is the AMB’s senior executive body, through which the chief archivist exercises senior management of all the bodies and services.

Its functions are as follows:

Planning, directing and supervising the actions and programmes involved in local authority document management and the archival treatment of documents.
Drawing up the rules and regulations that govern the organisation of the Municipal Archives System.
Establishing the criteria for managing the facilities and amenities of the archive centres and services.
Coordinating staff management and the economic administration of the centres.
Proposing the setting up of consultative bodies, committees and interdepartmental working groups to deal with matters that fall within their responsibility.
Providing technical guidelines and advice on building works projects and the procurement of goods and services that have a direct impact on a functional level.
Drawing up proposals for disseminating and publicising the documentary heritage and providing the necessary technical support for doing that.
Taking part in drawing up and coordinating the quality and innovation policies of the Municipal Archives System.
Formulating the guidelines for managing e-documents.
Drafting the Municipal Archives System’s annual reports.
Promoting and coordinating external relations by means of protocols, agreements, projects and conventions on a national and international level.

Municipal Commission on Records Access and Appraisal (CMAAD)

This is the technical body responsible for determining the value of documents and analysing their content, for the purposes of proposing the conservation periods and system for accessing them.

Historic Archives of the City of Barcelona (AHCB)

Here you will find documents produced by the Barcelona municipal authority from its inception in the mid-13th century to the first third of the 19th century.

It also holds private and institutional fonds, as well as bibliographic, press, cartographic, iconographic, sound and other collections.

Barcelona Contemporary Archives

Documents on the city’s history from the first third of the 19th century to the present day can be found in the Contemporary Archives, along with the institutional fonds from the same period.

Barcelona Photographic Archives (AFB)

These Archives look after all the municipal photographic fonds and collections, as well as those from other sources that are of interest to the city’s history.

District Municipal Archives

These centres are in charge of the documents produced by each Barcelona district, from the oldest historical records to current ones and any that might be considered of interest as regards the history of this small area.

Central archives

These are in charge of semi-active documents from the management files of areas, sectors, autonomous bodies, municipal companies and consortiums where Barcelona City Council is the majority stakeholder.

They are as follows: