ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with buildings and equipments used in Europe, information on Asia, Africa and the America. During the Carolingian period, many ecclesiastical establishments specified a dedicated location for their records, often separate from the library and typically found next to the church. There are many similar examples of civic, state and family archives held in ecclesiastical settings. The most valuable deeds were kept in churches for extended periods of time in peacetime as well as in times of trouble. During most of the Middle Ages, the Norwegian royal archives were kept in the church of Our Lady in Oslo. The municipal archives of Lisbon were held at the Casa de Santo-Antonio between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries. The most likely location for civic archives, was, unsurprisingly, the town hall or a building adjoining it, with a room specially fitted out for the purpose. Some evidence of archival practices can be gleaned from artistic works.
