Utrecht Archives

The origin of the Utrecht Archives can be found in a chest with charters, which was stored in one of the city gates during the Middle Ages.

Due to the fact that this gate was also used as a place to store gunpowder, the city archive had to be moved to another location.

From 1826 on, a Royal Decree mandated that provinces and local authorities draw up an inventory of their archives.

De Vos’ successor, Gerrit Dedel, who already went by the name of ‘Master of the Rolls’.

In 1050, St. Paul's Abbey, one of the oldest and most important monasteries in Utrecht, was built on this location.

Today, only a few fragments of wall remain from the abbey and its church, still visible in the Utrecht Archives.

In the hallway at the ground floor are the remains of the old ambulatory; in the auditorium there are fragments of the monastic chapter house, refectory and dormitory.

At the former location of a house at the Hamburgerstraat the Cantonal Court was built, after a design of the architect Willem Metzelaar.