Provincial Historical Archive

Historical archives are institutions that guard and preserve our documentary heritage. Despite the age of some of the manuscripts deposited, this archive was created in 1943 boosted by historian Xesús Ferro Couselo, its first director.

Its first location was in the Treasury delegation. In 1964 it was moved to the old bishop’s palace, where it shared space with the Archaeological Museum. Historical documentation spread in different deposits, notarial protocols, legacies and documentation from other administrations made it the Galician public archive with the most funds of private origin. This enormous amount of documentation, which reaches five kilometres, made it necessary to move to another building. It was be in 2020 when the change to its current location took place, in the San Francisco Cultural Ensemble.

Historical heritage and modernity are integrated in this archive located in the premises of the old Franciscan convent.

It is a building that integrates the premises of the old Franciscan convent with newly built facilities. The rehabilitation of the building, carried out by architectsXosé Manuel Casabella López y José Luís Martínez Raído, seeks to put into value the heritage asset itself for this use, while trying to integrate it  into the environment (Casabella himself had already participated in both the Auditorium and the Nós Library). The façade of the building, in neo-Gothic style, gives it greater monumentality. It was built in the early 20th century and took decorative elements from the cloister as a reference.

Today, the archive continues its initial work, giving access to researchers and promoting the institution with outreach (guided tours) and pedagogical activities. For this reason, spaces were set up for both temporary and permanent exhibitions.

Permanent Exhibitions

The first of the permanent halls, in the old refectory, takes us to “San Francisco: Architecture and History.” From its windows there is a different look at St. Francis’ Cloister, while the display cases explain the evolution of the place with documentary reproductions, models and panels: the settlement of the Franciscan monks on this land in the 14th century; the renovation of the 16th and 18th centuries, which provided a new baroque cloister; the exclaustration of the Franciscans and conversion into an infantry barracks in the 19th century; or the modern reform of the 21st century. It is worth highlighting a series of capitals that appeared decontextualized but with curious decorations of mythological or human motifs.

Temporary and permanent exhibitions bring this enormous documentary legacy closer to all audiences.

The second hall, which is accessed from the baroque cloister, focuses on the “Historical Documents of Ourense”. Along with 78 reproductions of documents preserved in the Archive, this hall presides over the map of the province by Coello (1856), in which we can see what the city of Ourense was like two centuries ago. Here you will find documents such as the oldest text (from 974), the city council minute book (1431), remains of incunabula, a plan of one of the city gates (1616), the Ensenada Cadastre (1749) and testimonies of contemporary writers: Curros Enríquez, Pardo Bazán, Risco, Otero, Blanco Amor, Camilo J. Cela…

A small sample of the more than three million documents that store more than a thousand years of written history.