The Plans of the Historical Archive of the University of Barcelona

The Historical Archive of the University of Barcelona preserves the documents related to the governing and financial board of the University’s construction works—an institution created expressly to coordinate the building of what is today known as the Historic Building of the University of Barcelona.

Among these documents are: the minutes book of the board meetings; the board’s internal regulations; reports, projects, and budgets for the construction of the building; staff, materials, and equipment inventories and controls; certificates and records of completed work; as well as correspondence and communications of orders.

Within this documentary collection, the plans are particularly noteworthy. They were drawn up to show both the building’s location within Cerdà’s urban plan for Barcelona and the layout of the sewer system, as well as the distribution of spaces, the design of architectural elements, and decorative details such as ornaments, statues, friezes, bolts, latches, hinges, lightning rods, the clock, and the bells.

You can consult these plans at the following link: Virtual Exhibition: La construcció de l’Edifici Històric de la Universitat de Barcelona: documents d’arxiu.