June 9th is International Archives Day, an event promoted by the International Council on Archives (ICA) that is celebrated worldwide. Catalan archives join this initiative by celebrating the International Archives Week with various outreach activities focused on the richness and diversity of Catalan documentary heritage.
The project we present aims to show how Catalonia has participated in the construction of Europe as we know it today. The goal is to demonstrate how our territory has been involved in various European political, social, and economic events and to highlight some of the projects and collaborations carried out over the years.
The institutions collaborating on the "Catalonia, a country of archives, documents that make Europe" project aim to actively participate in this initiative. For this reason, it begins its journey during International Archives Week, which will take place from June 9th to 15th of this year, and will continue until the end of the year, participating in the International Archives Congress, held from October 27th to 30th, 2025, in Barcelona.
The warm reception of the project has highlighted Catalonia’s European vocation. The large display of documents provided and the various activities scheduled confirm this broader and more open vision beyond merely belonging to a specific region or city.
The project has been carried out in two areas of action:
1. Creation of a digital resource
2. Organization of outreach activities
The digital resource contains over a thousand documents, selected by a large number of participating archives. These primary sources showcase the importance and significance of Catalonia’s documentary heritage in the construction of Europe, from the earliest preserved documents to the present day. The documents have been selected by more than one hundred public and private archives across the country.
The outreach activities planned by the archives will help to showcase to the public the documentary and, therefore, historical richness held in our centers, with the goal of engaging and involving them directly in activities such as workshops, conferences, exhibitions, and other scheduled events until the end of the year.
The main themes under which both the outreach activities and the documents provided in the digital resource are grouped include:
a) Institutional system and governance
b) The territory, a nation with changing borders
c) Economic drivers
d) Historical habitats: urbanism and architecture
e) Organization of collective services
f) The heartbeat of Catalan society
The project is aimed at all those involved in these events, as well as the citizens of our country.
Raising awareness of the facilities we have in the territory, promoting the importance and awareness of document management and preservation, and facilitating the dissemination and access to documentary heritage must be the driving force of our actions. The importance of what is preserved in our archives is what enables us to understand who we are and what our history has been.
