On September 26, 1238, King Jaime I reinstated worship in our metropolitan church dedicating it to Holy Mary. The same monarch endowed the Holy Cathedral Church of Valencia with a series of privileges, concessions that were completed with those of other kings and pontiffs.

It is the will of the chapter that this documentary and bibliographic wealth be available to researchers.
Access is free and thanks to the help of the Valencian Government’s Department of Culture and Sports, specifically the General Directorate of Books, Archives and Libraries, a great job of digitizing fonds is being carried out.

After the important work carried out in the 18th and 19th centuries by the archivists Juan Pahoner (1756-1781) and Manuel Lucia Mazparrota, authors of the immense archival work “Especies Perdidas” (Lost Species), it is throughout the 20th century when the Archive of the Valencia Cathedral has benefited from the important work of the archivist and librarian canons Mr. Roque Chabás Llorens (1891-1912), who organized the archive in papers, scrolls and codices, as it is preserved today, and who is considered one of the fathers of the Valencian school of historians.

The Archive as a whole is grouped into 9,061 scrolls (12th-20th centuries), 6,500 files (13th-20th centuries), 400 codices (12th-20th centuries) and 113 incunabula (15th centuries).

Mr. Elías Olmos Canalda (1912-1961), who is responsible for publishing the scrolls, codices and incunabula catalogues, Mr. Ramón Robres Lluch (1961-1989) and Mr. Salvador Vázquez Caplliure (1989-2008) successively, helped in the last decade by Mr. Ramón Fita Revert.

For its volume and uniqueness, and for keeping its series practically uninterrupted since the 14th century, the Archive of the Valencia Cathedral is considered one of the most important documentary depository of the European cathedrals, and without a doubt, it is among the first archives of the Valencian Community.

The secondary library, in addition to the old fond (incunabula and printed content from the 16th century-1800s), has sections on: dictionaries and other reference works, history of the Church, especially history of the church in Valencia and Valencian saints, Art history and exhibition catalogues, Historiographic Sciences and techniques (Archival, Diplomatic and documentary editions, Palaeography, etc.), history of music, liturgy, as well as the former and modern newspaper library and the collection of facsimiles. A total of 6,000 volumes, among which the miscellaneous stand out.

The set of fonds and collections in this Archive are made up of two archives: the Historical and the Music Archives.

Although the first location of the Archive was in the Old Library, built on the current chapel of St Peter and the Old Chapter House, from at least the 16th century, occupies, in the eastern part of the metropolitan temple, the two existing floors above the Main Sacristy (14th century) and the New Chapter Room or Chapel of the Relics (19th century).

The Archive can be accessed through a staircase from the Sacristy. It has a room for researchers, a room for technicians and a warehouse. Recently, it has been equipped with optimal prevention and conservation measures, and appropriate computer facilities, as well as a reprography service for researchers.

All its structures were modernized in a recent adaptation work directed by the architect Mr. Julián Chapapria. The Archive has an invaluable collaboration for the conservation and restoration of its fonds from IVACOR (Valencian Institute of Conservation and Restoration).

It is a special and specialized archive, which is why it has a specific regulation for access and consultation that is delivered to the use.