Overseas Historical Archive

Overseas Historical Archive – Ega Palace

The Overseas Historical Archive keeps, in the Ega Palace in Junqueira, the written memory of Portugal's overseas administration: some sixteen kilometres of textual and visual records, from the late 16th century to 1974-1975. It was created by Decree no. 19868 of 9 June 1931 to bring together in one place all the colonial records that had been scattered, and its main holdings include those of the Overseas Council, the Secretariat of State for the Navy and Overseas and the Overseas Ministry, along with collections of photographs, maps and iconography. Formerly part of the Institute of Tropical Scientific Research, it has been a service of the Directorate-General for Books, Archives and Libraries since 2015. The palace has a 16th-century core – a noble house already stood here in 1582 – and in the early 18th century it gained a huge hall, the Salão Pompeia, lined with eight blue-and-white Dutch tile panels showing views of Constantinople, Cologne, London, Venice, Hamburg, Middelburg, Rotterdam and Antwerp, listed as a Property of Public Interest in 1950. Bought by the State in 1919, the palace was adapted for the archive. The AHU is not a museum: the reading room is open to researchers on weekdays, and group visits are by request only.

Located at: Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino
Address: Calçada da Boa-Hora, 30, 1300-095 Lisboa
Opening hours: reading room for researchers, Monday to Friday 10:00-16:30; group visits by request only (currently limited)
Phone: +351 210 309 100
Coordinates: 38.7000137, -9.1895286
Buses: 714, 727, 751, 732, 728
Tram: 15E, 18E
Train: Cascais Line, Belém Station
Opened: 1931 (95 years)