Archive of the Marquises of Santa Maria de Barberà facts for kids
The Archive of the Marquises of Santa Maria de Barberà (AMSMB) is a very important collection of old documents in Catalonia, Spain. It's kept safe inside the beautiful castle of the Marquises of Santa Maria de Barberà in Vilassar de Dalt. This archive holds many historical papers, some of them nearly 1,200 years old!
The Castle's History
The castle in Vilassar, where the archive is located, has a long and interesting past. It started as a strong fortress way back in the 10th century, which is over a thousand years ago! Over time, in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, it was made much bigger and more beautiful. It changed from being a military building used for defense into a grand palace.
Today, the castle belongs to Ramon de Sarriera i Fernández de Muniaín and his wife Marcela Bernat Valenzuela. They are the current Marquises of Santa Maria de Barberà. They have worked hard to restore and fix up the castle, its lovely gardens, the archive itself, and all the old furniture and artworks inside. Since 1931, the castle has been recognized as a special "historic-artistic monument" by the government. This means it's a very important historical site that needs to be protected.
What's Inside the Archives
The AMSMB is like a giant treasure chest of history. It holds documents that date back to the 10th century, starting from the year 858! Many of these documents come from important noble families who joined together through marriage over hundreds of years.
Experts have been working to organize and digitize (make digital copies of) these old papers. The first part of this work focused on the collection of parchment documents. This was done with help from the University of Columbia and later the University of Texas. Now, they are continuing to digitize and describe all the documents, putting the information into a special computer program.
The archive is huge! It contains about 11,257 old scrolls, more than 2,000 handwritten books (called manuscripts), and 457.2 meters of bound documents. The AMSMB was first created in the 19th century in Barcelona, at a place called Palau Solterra. Later, in the 20th century, it moved to its current home in the castle in Vilassar de Dalt.
These collections include documents from many important families and regions, such as the Baronies of Vilassar, Cervelló, and Santa Pau. There are also papers from families like Llull, Pinós, Sarriera, and many others. The types of documents you can find here include scrolls, records from Barcelona's wealthy city dwellers, old maps, family trees, and printed books.
One special part of the archive is the Llull collection. It has over 300 scrolls, many paper documents, manuscripts, and printed books. This collection even includes a will from April 26, 2013, which is important because it connects to the medieval Llull family. This will was first mentioned by Francesc de Bofarull i Sans, who was the director of the General Archive of the Crown of Aragon. He spoke about it in 1894. The archive also keeps other documents related to the Lullian School of Barcelona from the 15th century.
See also
In Spanish: Archivo de los Marqueses de Santa Maria de Barberà para niños
