Parliamentary Historical Archive
In São Bento Palace, the written memory of parliament since 1821; the reading room is open by prior appointment only.
Parliamentary Historical Archive – São Bento Palace
The Parliamentary Historical Archive was born together with Portuguese parliamentarism itself: at the preparatory session of 24 January 1821, the very first minutes of the General and Constitutional Cortes already recorded that the documents submitted were deposited in the "Archive of the Cortes". Ever since, it has kept all the documents produced or received by parliament, from the Cortes of the 1820s and the Chamber of Deputies and Chamber of Peers of the Constitutional Monarchy to the Congress and Senate of the First Republic, the National Assembly of the Estado Novo and the Assembly of the Republic. From 1826 to 1838 the archivist of the Cortes was João Vicente Pimenta Maldonado, a former member of the constituent assembly, who lived in the palace itself. Its present name dates from the 1977 Organic Law of the Assembly of the Republic. Housed in São Bento Palace, the former Benedictine monastery where parliament has sat since 1834, the archive also holds a photographic archive and private fonds and collections, such as the correspondence of the Baron of São Clemente, and shares part of its holdings through documentary exhibitions published on the parliament's website. It is not open for casual visits: the reading room, entered through the side door of the building next to the Assembly car park, is open to the public by prior appointment only, on weekdays.
Located at: Assembleia da República
Address: Palácio de São Bento, 1249-068 Lisboa
Opening hours: By prior appointment only: Monday to Friday 09:00-18:00 (reading room; on parliamentary sitting days it closes when the plenary ends)
Phone: +351 213 919 410
Coordinates: 38.713011, -9.1535106
Buses: 706, 727, 773, 22B, 67B, 713, 19B
Tram: 28E
Metro: Rato (Yellow)
Train: Cascais Line, Santos Station
Opened: 1821 (205 years)
