The Port Archive was created in order to safeguard the documentary heritage of the Port administration from its origins to the present day.
With the creation of this facility the Port of Tarragona became one of the pioneers in the field of recovery of written and documentary heritage, an action that was strongly linked to concerns over cultural issues and to finding a bond with all people related.
The Archive hence serves the Port administration, but also the general public and researchers in such a way that over the years it has become a reference point for all those students and scholars interested in investigating the history of our Port, for people who have worked on the projects and the work carried out over time, for the economic activity generated or cultural relationship with the city of Tarragona, etc.

Tarragona Port Archive opened to the public on July 4, 1990 to celebrate the Bicentennial of the Modern Port.
At that time, it was conceived as a Historical Archive, but in time it has also welcomed the latest documentation thus becoming the general archive of an organization with information, both historical and administrative.
The oldest documents preserved in the Archive concerning the Port of Tarragona date from 1790, when work began on the modern port. From that date until the present, documentation has been increasing progressively to the point of becoming a considerable source, through which it is possible to reconstruct the history of Tarragona and the role of the Port both economically and socially.