The Historical Diocesan Archive of Lucca, Unesco Heritage (Italy)

Abstract

The ecclesiastical archives contain the millennial memory of our past. Unlike the Italian State Archives and the European National Archives, they are the only institutions that can boast a history coming back much long before the year 1000 a.D. The activity of researcher therefore must be made easier as much as possible. A heritage of enormous importance is located in Lucca. The Historical Diocesan Archive of Lucca is one of the most important ecclesiastical archives in the world, with almost 1,500 linear meters of documentation and over 13,500 parchments. Its archival items cover around 15th centuries of history and the wealth of them is known worldwide to scholars and archival institutions. In 2011, the Early Middle Ages documents present in Lucca’s Archive were included in the Memory of the World Register by UNESCO. This recognition places the Archive in front of two important challenges for the future: the correct preservation of such a precious asset and the correct management of the assets and spaces in which the scrolls are stored. The present paper presents the documentary and library collections of the Archive, briefly focusing on some peculiarities, and analyzing more concretely those aspects that affect the life of the archive itself, for instance its physical location, its historical importance and the role that it plays as a memory of society.