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Housed in a stately Renaissance building beside the cathedral in the heart of Seville, the Archivo General de Indias holds the documentary record of the Spanish empire in the Americas and the Philippines, one of the most important historical archives in the world and an inscribed UNESCO World Heritage Site. The building itself, the Casa Lonja de Mercaderes, was constructed in the late sixteenth century to designs associated with Juan de Herrera, the architect of El Escorial, originally as a merchants' exchange to house the commerce of the Indies that flowed through Seville, then the gateway to the New World. In the eighteenth century, King Charles III ordered the dispersed records of the colonial administration gathered together in the building, creating the archive. The collection is staggering in scale, comprising tens of millions of pages bound in some 43,000 volumes, occupying kilometres of shelving, and documenting more than three centuries of Spanish rule across the Americas and the Pacific, from the voyages of Columbus and the conquests of Mexico and Peru to the administration, trade, mapping and daily governance of the vast empire. Among its treasures are documents bearing the signatures of Columbus, Cervantes and Magellan, original maps and charts, and the papers that trace the encounter between Europe and the Americas. For visitors, the archive presents rotating exhibitions of selected documents and maps, displayed in the grand halls of the building, offering a glimpse into the extraordinary holdings and the history they record, while serious research access is reserved for scholars. The dignified architecture, with its central courtyard and monumental staircase, complements the significance of its contents. Located in the monumental heart of Seville between the cathedral and the Alcazar, all three inscribed by UNESCO, the archive draws visitors interested in history throughout the year across every season of the calendar. Admission to the exhibition halls is generally free, and the building's position between the cathedral and the Alcazar, all three inscribed by UNESCO, makes it an easy and rewarding addition to a tour of the monumental heart of the city throughout the year across every season.