Portuguese Centre of Photography

The Portuguese Centre of Photography

The Porto audio-guided tour presents you with the Portuguese Centre of Photography, set in a former courthouse become a prison, whose walls keep the memory of an austere past.

From a prison to a high place of photography

Before becoming the Portuguese Centre of Photography in 1997, the building knew a difficult past. Inaugurated in the eighteenth century as a courthouse, it was above all, until 1974, a prison. Among those who were locked up there is the writer Camilo Castelo Branco, a great figure of Portuguese letters of the nineteenth century; it is in one of these cells that he wrote, in fifteen days, one of his most famous novels, "Amor de Perdição". The austere style of the building remains, with its vast volumes, its barred windows and its long corridors, but it today houses one of the most important centres of photographic preservation in the country.

What there is to see

The Portuguese Centre of Photography combines the memory of a place of detention and the richness of its photographic collections. Its corridors, its cells and its barred windows recall its prison past, while the exhibitions offer a panorama of the history of photography. It is a visit both moving and instructive, accessible free of charge.

Practical information

The Portuguese Centre of Photography is in the centre of Porto, near the Torre dos Clérigos. It can be visited free of charge, according to hours to be checked on site.

What was the function of the building before the museum?

A courthouse then, until 1974, a prison; the writer Camilo Castelo Branco was notably incarcerated there.

What does the building house today?

The Portuguese Centre of Photography, one of the most important centres of photographic preservation in the country.