In 1990, after more than 25 years spent in unsuitable premises, the State Archives of Brindisi were finally moved to their new location in piazza S. Teresa, in a building of particular historical and artistic interest, restored for the city after a complex restoration work lasting almost 10 years.
It is the former convent of Santa Teresa, built in the second half of the 17th century by the Discalced Carmelites, located in the historic center next to the church of the same name. In the 19th century, it served as a barracks, acquiring the name caserma Manthonè, and was eventually left in total abandonment, so much so that, in the 1960s, its demolition had even been proposed to reuse the area as building land. Finally, in ’62, the property was decommissioned by the Ministry of Defense, thus becoming a state asset, of which the Ministry of Finance – General Directorate of the State Property – could later decide its use for the State Archives and transfer it to the then Ministry for Cultural and Environmental Heritage, which initiated its restoration.
The building features the typical convent layout, with a quadrangular cloister and inner courtyard, with a quadrangular structure to which non-contemporary rooms were added.
Its use as a State Archives suggested using the very large ground floor rooms as storage and for exhibition and conference halls, arranged around three sides of the cloister (the fourth side is adjacent to the church), which originally certainly housed the kitchen, cellars, pantries, refectory, and agricultural tool storage. The offices were placed on the first floor, in a series of small cells served by a continuous corridor. Also on the first floor is the study room, in a large space with a lunette vault.
Unfortunately, the storage rooms proved insufficient to hold all the documentary material preserved in the Archive, so it is still necessary to use other detached premises for this purpose.
Information about State Archives of Brindisi
Piazza S. Teresa, 4
72100 Brindisi
0831523412/13
as-br@archivi.beniculturali.it
www.asbrindisi.beniculturali.it
Source: MIBACT
