Fototecas portuguesas: el patrimonio industrial del s.XIX a través de sus fotografías

Abstract

Photography is a valuable research tool as a documentary source in the studio and in the value of industrial heritage. In 1839 the Portuguese press echoed the invention of photography and from that moment different itinerant photographers, some of them foreigners, took charge of portraying the Portuguese heritage. For citing some examples: Frederick William Flower, Joseph James Forrester, Antero Frederico Ferreira de Seabra da Mota e Silva, Carlos Augusto Mascarenhas Relvas de Campos, Emilio Biel or Francisco Rocchini. Since then, photographic trading companies began to settle in the country, consolidating photography as an essential element in the new industrial society. Different Portuguese photo libraries took years to invent and document the cultural heritage, including the industrial, both locally and nationally. It is worth mentioning the work carried out by the Portuguese Center of Photography (Oporto) or by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon), which included among its numerous collections of photographers who have worked in the Portuguese speaking countries since the 19th century. With this communication, we intend to study and analyze the photographic heritage linked to the Portuguese industrial heritage of the 19th century, present in some of the most important photo libraries in the country, with the objective of putting value and reflecting on its future.