The Archive of the Marquises of Santa María de Barberá is the leading heritage archive in Catalonia, both for the volume of documentation preserved and for its uniqueness. Since the 1980s, it has been a pioneer in funds management.
Firstly, the scroll and parchment collection was catalogued and computerised. Likewise, the collections of manuscripts and files were conserved and preserved through an agreement with Columbia University and later with the University of Texas. In the third phase, the digitisation linked to the archival description is carried out, dumping the data into a document management program.
It keeps 11,256 scrolls, more than 2,000 manuscripts and 457.2 linear meters of files.
The Archive was created in the 19th century, in the Palacio Sarriera in Barcelona. In the 20th century, it was relocated to the Castle of the Marquises of Santa María de Barberá, in Vilassar de Dalt (Maresme).
The first documents of the Archive are dated back to 10th century Catalonia, with chronology beginning in the year 858. Throughout its thousand-year history, the Archive has been built by adding collections from other aristocratic houses, incorporated by the pathways of inheritance and marriage policy.
The archive preserves documentation of lineages and families of immemorial nobility, privileged nobility and urban patriciate. Its Funds are those of the Baronies of Vilassar, Cervelló and Santa Pau; those of the Llull, Pinós, Sureda-Santmartí, Sarriera, Santcliment, Solterra, Boixadors, Copons, Ivorra, Babau and Alentorn lineages.
The collections are made up of parchments, the urban patriciate of Barcelona, plans, maps and genealogies, and printed books.