Municipal Historical Archive

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The written history, to learn about the past and walk towards the future

Our Archive is the most tangible representation of the exciting history of the municipality. Its shelves provide a deep insight into the distant past and the most recent events.

Municipal Historical Archive

Manzanares El Real Town Council
Plaza del Pueblo 1

91 853 00 09

From Monday to Friday from 9 to 14h.

More information

Official regulations

Ley 4/1993, de 21 de abril, de Archivos y Patrimonio Documental de la Comunidad de Madrid

As part of the local heritage, the Municipal Historical Archive of Manzanares El Real maintains and preserves a large portion of the ancient documents that record its history.

With more than 300,000 documents, we can find everything from manuscripts dating from the end of the 16th century or texts from both republics, to 19th century typescripts and reports from the Spanish Civil War, plans and historical photographs.

In 2017, the Town Council started the project of recovery, cataloguing, digitisation and conservation of its archive thanks to the initiative of participatory budgeting, first with the collaboration of the Cultural Association of El Real de Manzanares and currently on its own, as an important work to enhance and share its heritage assets with the public.

History for everyone

Any public administration archive is also yours by right, because it is born of our experiences and preserves the memory of our society.

Written document

The history of mankind in our municipality is very long and goes back to prehistoric times when graphics only existed, in a figurative form, on the rocky walls of the mountains in our territory.

Although we do not have all the documents that recount the history of our region, in the Municipal Historical Archive of Manzanares El Real we are lucky to have a large number of written testimonies that bear witness to the evolution of our municipality from the 16th century until present days, a collection of documents that is increasing over time thanks to the donations from volunteers who help us in our work collaboratively.

Manuscripts, typescripts, printed matter, plans and maps are the main sources of information that researchers and people can look up at our facilities. And if you do not find what you need, we can help you to get it or inform you so that you can find it in one of the historical archives of our country.

Photographic document

It is not only written documents that provide us with information. Photographs are a wellspring which provide us with essential information that would be otherwise impossible to know.

In the Municipal Historical Archive of Manzanares El Real we have two large photographic collections: the Collection of Historical Photographs and the Collection of the Ethnological and Archaeological Museum, both of which are constantly growing, thanks to donations from neighbours who want to preserve the visual historical heritage of Manzanares.

It is also thanks to donations that we have other private collections given to us with the aim of collaborating in the search and research of historical photographs where our people are the protagonists.

These collections are of course publicly available to researchers and interested parties, so that we can all learn about our past and see it first-hand.