Civic Archives in Bozen-Bolzano

The Civic Archives in Bozen-Bolzano (German: Stadtarchiv Bozen; Italian: Archivio Storico della Città di Bolzano) are the municipal archive of the city of Bolzano in South Tyrol, Italy. They are located in the old town hall and store documents from over 700 years of civic and regional history.

Civic Archives in Bozen-Bolzano
Native name
Stadtarchiv Bozen—Archivio Storico della Città di Bolzano
Access from the Lauben thoroughfare
LocationBozen-Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy
Coordinates46°30′N 11°21′E
Built1455
Governing bodyCity of Bolzano
Websitehttp://stadtarchiv-archiviostorico.gemeinde.bozen.it

History
The so called Stadtbuch dating back to 1472—1525, fol. 76v, recording a civic privilege from 1363 granted by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria
The town's coat of arms as it appears in the Civic accountings of 1471 (Hs. 173), written by the mayor Konrad Lerhueber

The records of the Civic Archives and their language reflect the complex and rich History of the Alps and especially the History of South Tyrol, being the oldest documentation from the late 13th century onwards written exclusively in Latin and German.[1] Only from the annexation of the Southern Tyrol after World War I by Italy in 1919/20 onwards, the records are mainly kept in Italian.

The first mentions about the Bolzano records keeping are dating back to the late XV century. In 1472 the burgermeister Konrad Lerhueber instituted the so called Stadtbuch as the towns official register of legal acts.[2]

In 1776 the civic council, on behalf of the burgermeister Franz von Gumer, decided to gather the municipal records within the old town hall and ordered the civic scrivener Johann Felix Gigl to collect the archives.

As in 1907 the municipality moved to Bolzano's new town hall, the historic documents were transferred to the Civic Museum and recorded by the Austrian historian and archivist Karl Klaar who made an inventory still valid today.[3] In 2002 the whole documentation returned to the old town hall, in the meantime adapted as site of the historic archives.

Holdings

Among the many documents preserved, of peculiar interest to the historic sciences are the archives of the former Hospital to the Holy Spirit (Heilig-Geist-Spital) existing from the late 13th to the 19th centuries.[4] Also the archives of the former autonomous communities of Gries and Zwölfmalgreien (Dodiciville) are kept by the Civic Archives. The oldest document today existing is a fragment of Bede's Commentaries on Proverbs.[5] There is also preserved an excerpt of the Middle High German Christherre-Chronik in a copy dating back to 14th century.[6]

References
  1. Obermair, Hannes (2014), "The Use of Records in Medieval Towns: The Case of Bolzano, South Tyrol", in Marco Mostert; Anna Adamska (eds.), Writing and the Administration of Medieval Towns: Medieval Urban Literacy I (PDF), Utrecht Studies in Medieval History, vol. 27, Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 49–68 (53–57), doi:10.1484/M.USML-EB.1.101928, ISBN 978-2-503-54959-0
  2. Obermair, Hannes (1999), "Das Bozner Stadtbuch: Handschrift 140 – das Amts- und Privilegienbuch der Stadt Bozen", in Stadtarchiv Bozen (ed.), Bozen: von den Grafen von Tirol bis zu den Habsburgern, Forschungen zur Bozner Stadtgeschichte, vol. 1, Bozen-Bolzano: Verlagsanstalt Athesia, pp. 399–432, ISBN 978-88-7014-986-9
  3. Obermair, Hannes (2018), "Multiple Vergangenheiten – Sammeln für die Stadt? Das Bozener Stadtarchiv 3.0", in Philipp Tolloi (ed.), Archive in Südtirol: Geschichte und Perspektiven / Archivi in Provincia di Bolzano: storia e prospettive, Veröffentlichungen des Südtiroler Landesarchivs, vol. 45, Innsbruck: Universitätsverlag Wagner, pp. 211–24 (213–20), ISBN 978-3-7030-0992-1
  4. Schneider, Walter (2005). Das Urbar des Heilig-Geist-Spitals zu Bozen von 1420. Veröffentlichungen des Südtiroler Landesarchivs (in German). Vol. 17. Innsbruck: Universitätsverlag Wagner. ISBN 978-3-7030-0381-3.
  5. Obermair, Hannes (2010). ""Novit iustus animas". Ein Bozner Blatt aus Bedas Kommentar der Sprüche Salomos" (PDF). Concilium Medii Aevi (in German). 13: 45–57. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3897.5762. Retrieved 2019-10-10.
  6. Seemüller, Joseph (1895). "Bozener Bruchstück der Christherre-Chronik". Zeitschrift des Ferdinandeums. III Folge (in German). 39: 384–93. Retrieved 2021-03-21.

Sources
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