the essential
The city's municipal archives service is restoring a register of deliberations dating from the 15th century. One of the most beautiful documents from the old collection which required several months of work.
“This register of deliberations, bearing the symbol BB 11, was in very poor condition,” says Émilie Papaix, city archivist. The original binding has been restored, this is rare because we generally have a new one made. But as it was very beautiful, the workshop was able to keep it. Oddly enough, it has a double binding, one in leather and one in parchment. The leather has been restored as have the originally reconstituted straps. The goal is to see what has been done again. Inside it is very thick rag paper. In the Middle Ages, paper was made from old clothes. It is a very resistant material and the ink fades very little, which allows very old documents to be very well preserved.”
An investment of €4,000 for this restoration
The choice of restoration fell on this work because it is one of the most beautiful documents in the old collection, prior to 1789, which was also among the most damaged. “Each year, we implement a multi-year document restoration plan,” continues Émilie. This register was the only one supported in 2024 given the restoration cost which is around 4,000 euros knowing that it is subsidized at 50%. It was the company “La reliure du Limousin” which took charge of this document over a period of three months.
At the same time, the work was digitized: “This way, if people cannot come and consult on site, they can have access to the digital files on request. It is also a conservation measure. If the document has been manipulated too much, or in the event of a disaster, we have the file. »
Presented for the 900th anniversary of the city
Very well written and in Occitan, this manuscript was presented during the exhibition on the 900 years of Pamiers in 2011.
“Inserted among the city's deliberation registers, it contains a large number of important acts for the community. Most of them were probably transcribed at the time of their creation but sometimes grouped by theme at a later time with texts recording major events in the history of the city, explains Danièle Neirinck, heritage curator. It is in “quarto” format. Its leather cover, which is perhaps not original – there is another parchment binding underneath but which is obviously several centuries old and which has survived them very well – is rare in the municipal archives where the Registers of deliberations were only linked in the 19th century. This large register that I call “the guest book” written on high quality paper is a prestigious register. It is not dated but only one act is from after the end of the 15th century.”
New restoration projects
Planned for 2025, the restoration of several compounds, ancestors of the land register. “We are working with Danièle Neirinck on the overhaul of the inventory of all the compositions, dating from the 14th to the 18th century. Some errors remained. I cleaned them all, reconditioned them. We will have them restored as a priority and digitized since they are part of the old collection,” concludes Emilie Papaix.
