The archive of the College of Architects of Catalonia, closer to the National Archive

The Archive of the College of Architects of Catalonia will be the first private archive to be integrated as a section in the National Archive, in accordance with the 2019 Decree. Decree 48/2019, of 5 March, of the sections of the National Archive of Catalonia created the possibility that private archives with sufficiently relevant documentation, which is part of the documentary heritage of Catalonia, can establish a special relationship of support and collaboration with the National Archive, becoming ne sections.

In this way, the Department of Culture specified its will to:

• Supporting large private archives with documentary heritage needs protection.
• Encourage the standardization of the tasks of description, conservation, digitization and dissemination of the documentary collections gathered in these archives of great relevance.
• Ensure that their documentation is accessible, in accordance with the principles of transparency and public interest.

As a precondition, the decree established that these private archives, which in any case would maintain autonomy in their management, should be integrated into the Catalan Archives System (SAC), a step that the Col archive Official Law of Architects of Catalonia (COAC) has now done. The SAC is the set of bodies of the Administration and of archives that guarantee the management, the conservation, the protection and the diffusion and the access to the documentation of Catalonia.

At present, the archives that have expressed interest in accessing the benefits of the status of sections of the National Archive are the COAC Archive and the Amatller Institute of Hispanic Art.

The College of Architects of Catalonia has a long history, the result of more than 50 years of activity. In fact, it is considered one of the most important architectural archives in Europe. It preserves more than two million documents in different media and formats, integrated in approximately 150 collections from various architectural firms, photographic archives (such as the collection of Francesc Català-Roca, whose centenary we are now celebrating) and also an important planimetry and cartography background.

The integration of the COAC Archive as a section of the National Archive will facilitate convergence in working methods in terms of archival treatment, conservation and digitization of documentary holdings, as well as joint output, within reach. of all citizens, descriptions and reproductions of the holdings and documents through the Online Archives Portal.