In 1149, a territorial reorganization takes place and an ecclesiastical restoration is promoted by the Bishop of Roda, G. Pérez. In 1168, the Bishop afore mentioned enacts the Ordinatio Eclessiae Ilerdensis which regulates the church of Lleida and organizes its Chapter.
After the conquest of the city, the Archive, Bishop Perez and all the Roda Cathedral Canons are moved to Lleida, which becomes the new head office of the Archive.
Lleida Chapter Archive has been moved many times within its history. Theses moves have shaped the Archive and the upkeep of its records.
Originally the Archive head office was held in the main apse of the Old Cathedral (Seu Vella). Afterwards, the Archive was moved to St. James?s Chapel within the same Cathedral.
During the reforms undertaken between 1441 and 1444, the Archive was located in a building called La Canonja in the northern cloister of the Old Cathedral. The Archive remained there until Philip V converted the old cathedral to military headquarters. The Archive, the library and the chapter were moved to the church of San Lorenzo, which worked as the cathedral seat until a new cathedral was built up in 1781. The New Cathedral had a specific department, designed by the architect, Cermeño, to hold the Archive.
The outbreak of the Civil War prompted the move of the Archive to three different places. Soon later, the fund was transferred first to Butsènit hermitage and soon after to Zaragoza.
Once the war was finished, the Archive funds were stored in the Episcopal Palace until 1955, when the Archive returned to the rebuilt New Cathedral.
The Archive is located on the top floor of the Lleida Cathedral, in Almudí Vell Square. Nowadays it has eleven rooms, some of them very small. However, the place is going to be expanded to other rooms below. The whole place is about 355m2. It has 990 line meters of shelving, which 693 of them are already occupied. Lleida Chapter Archive is considered to be the richest ecclesiastical archive of Catalonia. It contains the records of about 1000 years of our history, including the history of the Crown of Aragon, and the funds of Roda and Àger.
There are more than 16.000 parchments and thousand of documents (manuscripts, codices, incunabula, forms). There is also a library with more than 13.000 volumes about different topics (moral, canon law, theology, spirituality, homilies, and thesis), a musical fund and a photographical section.
In 1992, Melchor Bajén was appointed new archivist. Dr Bajén reorganized the archive. He had to start from the very beginning cleaning, making inventories, numbering. The main objective now is to catalogue all the existing funds, which some of them remain still unknown.
Thanks to new technologies of digitalization we intend to keep our valuable heritage and offer new ways of study and consulting to the researchers. Our goal is to make historical data accessible to the researchers.
By means of displays, press articles, university courses (history, paleography and archival studies) and collaboration agreements, the Archive has been opening to the society. It is no longer a place devoted to a few scholars. We want it to be a cultural heritage opened to all researchers and to all society.
The information provided on this page will be updated periodically. We hope to guide you in your research and offer valuable information to those interested in culture and history.