Archives of the Archdiocese of Salzburg
The archives of the Archdiocese of Salzburg are located in the Kardinal-Schwarzenberg-Haus on Kapitelplatz in Salzburg's old town. It keeps the registries of the consistory in the former archbishopric of Salzburg and the offices of the archbishop's ordinariate since secularization . The holdings range from the 12th century to the present day. Since the archive also looks after the archives of the approx. 220 parishes and pastoral care offices of the Archdiocese of Salzburg , it also fulfills the function of a diocesan archive .
The beginnings - the main archive
The oldest archive of the Salzburg archbishops kept the most valuable church documents ( documents , concepts, copy books, etc.) together with the church treasures in the archbishop's chamber. It was referred to as the secret archive or main archive , and from the 14th century it was managed by a chamberlain. However, the beginnings of an archive were humble. It was only after the unrest of the Peasants' War in 1525 , in which larger holdings (mainly land registers ) had been destroyed, that the previously arbitrarily collected archive material was sorted and the first finding aids (1525–1560) were created. Since the archbishop was not only the metropolitan , but also the sovereign , there was a collection of documents on spiritual, state and economic matters, which were now kept separately.
The archbishop's archive has been in the residence since the Middle Ages , and then in the so-called “new residence building” since the end of the 17th century . It was initially looked after by two councilors on a part-time basis, then by the registrar of the court chancery. Since 1756 the company employed its own “secret archivists”. After the establishment of the central authorities (court councilor, court chamber, council of war, consistory) at the turn of the 17th century, this archive was under the authority of the court chancellery. Extensive stocks were formed here over the next few centuries. In addition to this “main or old archive”, there were also partial registers and archives of individual higher authorities (Hofrat, Lehenstube, cathedral chapter ), which developed separately. In addition, the "Secret Registry", which had to deal with the current official business of the archbishops, gradually developed into a second archive, as files were only reluctantly handed over.
With the cession of the Wiener Neustädter District (1782) and the establishment of two dioceses each in Styria ( Seckau-Graz and Leoben ) and in Carinthia ( Gurk-Klagenfurt and Lavant ), the first archival records were transferred from the main archive to the local authorities.
In 1791, the existing archive material was indexed and repertorated as part of a complete reorganization (4 main groups: Archiepiscopatus Salisburgensis et Metropolitica, Episcopatus seu Dioecesis Salisburgensis, Extranea, Miscellanea). However, due to the effects of the war and the secularization of the Archbishopric (1803), the order was not permanent. Numerous escapes and extraditions of archive material were the result, and losses were inevitable. The time of the Electorate of Salzburg (1803-1805) not only brought an increase in file material due to the territorial expansion of the state ( Berchtesgaden , Eichstätt ), but also led to a separation of the spiritual and secular holdings, with the latter being handed over to the highest judicial authority.
The development of the archive in the 19th and 20th centuries
The changing incorporation of Salzburg into the Habsburg Monarchy (1806–1809, then finally from 1816) and into the Kingdom of Bavaria (1810–1816) resulted in the loss of large parts of the archbishop's archive. The most valuable holdings in the main archive, including the oldest documents and codices, but also a large part of the cathedral capital, were brought to Vienna and Munich. Deliveries of files were also associated with the assignment of the former Salzburg "Rupertiwinkel" to Bavaria.
Since the final annexation of Salzburg to Austria and the establishment of an independent crown land (1850), there has not been any particular change for the archives. The remainder of the archival material with predominantly spiritual content was continuously supplemented by the increase in files from the diocesan offices. The archive was housed in the archbishop's palace. Due to the effects of the war during the Second World War , there were frequent outsourcing in the area of the city and state of Salzburg. As a result, the damage was kept within limits, the only losses to be complained about were the bombing of the Salzburg Cathedral (1944) and improper storage of the archive material.
In the years 1955–1967 / 68 there was a laborious reduction and re-registration of the holdings. These were housed as non-nested bundles (fascicles) in 24 boxes with 108 compartments each in a compact system, sorted according to pertinence (subject matter) and made accessible with a finder in the form of index cards. Later additions to the archive were kept in several external depots.
“New life in old walls” - the archive in the 21st century
Since May 2006, the facility, now known as the “Archive of the Archdiocese of Salzburg”, has been located in the Kardinal-Schwarzberg-Haus, an archive building that meets modern requirements. After the idea arose in the 1990s of adapting the former granary of the cathedral chapter from the 17th century as a "culture store" in order to remedy the cramped space in the "Konsistorialarchiv", after years of building planning and negotiations, the 2nd September 2003 the foundation stone was laid for the renovation. The building, which was planned by the architect Flavio Thonet and looked after by Hermann Rumschöttel , General Director of the Bavarian State Archives, was ready for use in autumn 2005 . The ceremonial opening and consecration by Archbishop Alois Kothgasser took place on May 12, 2006.
The archive is designed according to the so-called “one-house solution”, ie all the required functional areas are housed under one roof. Five magazines are now available on three floors with an area of 2,000 m² for the permanent storage of 9,600 linear meters of documents.
literature
- Christian Greinz: The prince-bishop's curia and the city dean of Salzburg. Salzburg 1929.
- Josef Karl Mayr: History of the Salzburg central authorities from the middle of the 13th century to the end of the 16th century. (= Special print from the communications of the Society for Salzburg Regional Studies 64, 65, 66) Salzburg 1926.
- Andreas Mudrich: The Salzburg archives. in: Mitteilungen des kk Archivrat 1916, pp. 1–32.
- Ernst Wenisch: On the history of the Salzburg consistory and its archive. in: Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Salzburger Landeskunde 105.1965, pp. 153–174.
- Cardinal Schwarzenberg House. New life in old walls. ed. from the home of Austria Charitable Housing and Settlement Ltd. Salzburg 2006.
- Hermann Rumschöttel : The modern archive building in Europe and the archive of the Archdiocese of Salzburg. Ceremonial address by the General Director of the Bavarian State Archives, in: Ordinance Gazette of the Archdiocese of Salzburg, No. 2/6 (special issue) June 2006.
- Kerstin Lengger: The archive of the Archdiocese of Salzburg. in: Bastei 56/1 2007, pp. 30–37.