Centro Português de Fotografia

The Centro Portugues de Fotografia is a museum, archive, and gallery dedicated to photography located in Porto, Portugal. Founded in 1997 by the Portuguese Ministry of Culture, the institution plays a key role in preserving and promoting the country's photographic heritage. It is housed in a large eighteenth century building in the historic center of Porto, near the Clerigos Tower. The building is classified as a Monumento Nacional and forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage site of Porto's historic old town.

The creation of the Centro Portugues de Fotografia in 1997 followed the advice of a working group established by Minister Manuel Maria Carrilho in 1996. At the time, photographic culture in Portugal was experiencing a revival driven by new photography schools, festivals, and galleries, which attracted photographers who had been exiled during the Salazar regime. The first exhibitions opened in December 1997 on the ground floor of the building. The institution operated in this limited capacity until 2000, when the building was temporarily closed for extensive renovation and adaptation. It subsequently reopened in 2001, allowing the center to occupy the entire building.

The institution's permanent collection focuses on the technical history of photography, featuring numerous cameras and photographic apparatuses from the nineteenth century to the present. Displayed on the uppermost floor, the collection includes daguerreotypes, large format cameras, bellows cameras from the nineteenth century, reflex cameras, medium format cameras, panoramic cameras, twin lens cameras, disposable cameras, and miniature spy cameras. In addition to this technical collection, the center hosts temporary photography exhibitions.

Among its notable holdings are historical cameras tracing the technological evolution of the medium. The center has also hosted significant temporary exhibitions, such as a 2009 show dedicated to the photographer J. Laurent, who was established in Spain but took views of Portugal in 1869.

The center is housed in the former Cadeia da Relacao, a building that served as the Porto court of second instance and its associated prison. Constructed in the eighteenth century, the structure functioned as a courthouse and prison until 1961, and solely as a prison until April 29, 1974. After the Carnation Revolution, the building was illegally occupied by returnees and activist groups and fell into decay. Initial restoration work began in 1988, and the building was placed under the authority of the Instituto Portugues do Patrimonio Arquitectonico in 1992. Architects Eduardo Souto de Moura and Humberto Vieira led the museum conversion in the 1990s. The interior features large, austere halls with thick stone walls and massive metal grilles. The writer Camilo Castelo Branco was famously imprisoned here for adultery from October 1, 1860 to October 17, 1861, an event commemorated by naming the main facade esplanade Largo Amor de Perdicao after his novel.

The Centro Portugues de Fotografia is located in the historic center of Porto, Portugal. It is subordinate to the Portuguese National Archive, the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo. The institution maintains an active role as a museum, archive, and gallery, offering both its permanent collection of photographic equipment and temporary exhibitions to the public.