 The actual building was projected by architect Arsénio Cordeiro, in collaboration with architect António Barreiros Ferreira.It was inaugurated in 1990, and purposely built to receive the National Archive, whose vast collection had been archived since 1757 in the Monastery of São Bento da Saúde (today the Palace de São Bento.The new archive inherited the name of the former Moorish tower of the Castle of São Jorge where documents from the kingdom were warehoused since 1378.