Barcelona: A City Built On Its Archives

New release

Barcelona: A City Built On Its Archives

The History of the Barcelona Municipal Archive (1249–2025)

Author/s: Ramon Alberch i Fugueras and Bethan Cunningham (Translator)
Collection: Barcelona City and Neighbourhoods

Imatge de la coberta del llibre 'Barcelona: A City Built on its Archives'

From its genesis when the municipal government was created in the mid-13th century to the present day, Barcelona Municipal Archive has become a mirror that reflects the evolution of the city itself.

This book offers a panoramic view of the archive, which is the key to understanding how the city has developed over the course of almost one thousand years. Direct, daily contact between citizens and the municipality has generated a dynamic of intense connection, to such an extent that the municipal government has proven to be a living organism and the most solid, indestructible base for systems of power and representation.

On the occasion of the International Council on Archives 2025 Congress being held in the city of Barcelona, this study has been published to highlight the archive’s evolution as a repository of collective memory and instrument of transparency in public affairs management.

City

Culture

History

Society

Administration

Council

Historical Archive

Archiving

What are them saying

"Un llibre que vol recuperar de l’oblit col·lectiu la història, l’evolució i la tasca desconeguda de l’Arxiu Municipal de Barcelona des de la seva creació el 1249 i fins a l’actualitat.Sense l’Arxiu Municipal de Barcelona, la ciutat estaria orfe d’identitat, de referents i de patrimoni."

Línia. El diari metropolità | Laura Santos 29/10/2025

Ramon Alberch i Fugueras

A doctor of history, Ramon Alberch i Fugueras has been the co-founder and chair of the Association of Archivists of Catalonia (1986–1993) and the NGO Archivist Without Borders (1998–2005 and 2012–2020). He directed the Barcelona Municipal Archive from 1990 to 2004 and the Archive System of Catalonia from 2004 to 2010. He was also the director of the School of Archives and Document Management at the Autonomous University of Barcelona from 2002 to 2016. Now, he visits various universities across Latin America as a guest lecturer. In 2022, the International Council on Archives named him an ICA Fellow. He has written some 40 essays and manuals on archives and history.