ABOUT US

The City of Archives in Barreiro is a unique experience in Portugal. Public and private archives, covering very different fields, from ports to insurance, with very different histories and methods, encompass the trilogy that is increasingly becoming the choice of many major archives around the world: the association of the three components Library-Archive-Museum. With collections that are fundamental to many aspects of Portuguese and international history, they are turning the city of Barreiro into a hub of attraction for researchers. In a time of intense competition, these institutions collaborate with one another, complementing their holdings and thus opening themselves not only to the city but also to the country, through their archival richness, which is fundamental to history.

It is no coincidence that the City of Archives emerged in Barreiro, a place that is itself a living showcase of much of Portugal’s history. The great industrial city of the twentieth century, closely linked to the country’s economic activity, particularly on the south bank of the Tagus, shaped its landscape through its factories, with one of the largest concentrated working-class populations in Europe, combining an innovative entrepreneurial experience with a unique tradition of social and political struggle during the 48 years of dictatorship.

It is upon this living memory in people and families, in the urban landscape that today’s Barreiro becomes a better place, through respect for history, which the archives of the City of Archives, in collaboration with artistic, business, and associative partnerships, provide.

José Pacheco Pereira