District Archive of Beja

Category: Civil Architecture > Museum

District: Beja > Beja > Beja > Santiago Maior e São João Baptista

Location in the City

The Beja District Archive is located on Avenida Vasco da Gama, in an area of the city that belongs to the union of parishes of Santiago Maior and São João Baptista. This location, integrated into Beja's urban fabric, provides a calm and accessible environment. It offers visitors a different perspective of the city, beyond its more obvious historic center, allowing observation of contemporary Beja and its organization.

A Guardian of Alentejo's Memory

The Beja District Archive is a space dedicated to safeguarding the region's vast memory. Established in 1965, its main mission is to preserve, enhance, and make accessible a documentary heritage of inestimable value. It represents a meeting point with the past, where the history of Alentejo is revealed through original documents, bearing witness to centuries of life and social, economic, and cultural evolution in the province.

Treasures in Document Form

Within the collections of the Beja District Archive lies an impressive universe of knowledge, distributed across approximately five hundred distinct documentary collections. These documents, dating from the distant year of 1420 to the present day, are preserved on various types of media, each telling a part of history. Among the most notable records are the parish and civil registers, covering the period between 1580 and 1880, offering a glimpse into the daily lives of the populations. Also found are judicial records from the 19th and 20th centuries, which reflect the legal and social dynamics of the time, and notarial records, from 1593 to 1955, documenting transactions and agreements that shaped local and regional life. This collection is an invitation to discover and gain a deeper understanding of Beja's and Alentejo's history.

License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.pt