A Historical and Archival Guide to Székesfehérvár (Székesfehérvár, 2003)

THE HISTORY OF SZÉKESFEHÉRVÁR TOWN ARCHIVES

growing administration, however could not be placed permanently, thus in 1837 a decision was made to build new headquarters. The plan of the neoclassic style building was made by the Székesfehérvár-born Miklós Ybl. The new headquarters plan was soon struck off the agenda, so the archives office stayed in the same place. The town maintained not only its own archives, but due to the patronage system also the maintenance of the parishes' archives belonged to its duties. The few data we have shows that the town supported the emplacement of the archives of the parish of the town centre. The duty to house the archives in the tower of the parish church fell on the town.

30 Later on, the archives were planned to be placed next to the cathedral - the parish church of the town centre functioned as cathedral after the founding of the bishopric in 1777 but the revolution and war of independence of 1848-49 crossed these plans.

31 In 1 827 the loca credibilia function of the chapter was restored, which was beneficial in searching for the documents from the pre-Turkish era. The Act on the authenticity of the chapter also provides that "those documents which were taken from the former chanters archives of Fejérvár to other archives during the Turkish occupation, the serial number of which is indicated by the chapter, must be returned".

32 At the same time the search for the documents of the chapter was started. Several sources mention the search for the lost archival documents, the Palugyai description is one of them. The sources differ in stating when the first attempt was made to find the town's pre-Turkish period documents. The reform era was fruitful in this respect too, as in 1834 the municipal attorney presented a list of documents that were found in the chapter of Bratislava. The council submitted the list to the electors, but no attempt was made to recover the documents.

33 Alike the archives, valuables of various sorts were placed in the land registration office, in its deposit counter: partly deposits, but other found objects as well. It meant a significant change, when the gold and silver objects were not to be placed here anymore but in the Chamber.

34 The range of documents that were placed in the archives expanded continuously. The Act XXIII of 1827 modified the registra-