Portuguese Photographic Heritage

In the Fotografia Beleza, located on Rua de Santa Teresa – directed by Moreira de Campos from 1918 and owned by António Lopes Moreira in 1935 – the bourgeoisie of Porto saw itself reflected. The studio had an elegant waiting room where portraits of the high society of the North of Portugal were displayed.

Indeed, Fotografia Beleza left behind a collection of several hundred thousand photographic documents, one of the largest collections known in Portugal to date. This collection includes over 10,000 glass plate photographs, mainly of landscapes, including urban landscapes. The remaining photographs are portraits of people from the North of Portugal, with particular relevance to Porto and its surroundings.

This collection, likely the most significant photographic archive from a Portuguese photographic house of the 20th century, also includes supporting documentation, particularly the books of records for the work done and ordered, totaling 375 books. These documents meticulously recorded the client's name and address, identification number, format type, and date of the photographs.

Following the project presented in 2007 to the "Pos_Conhecimento" Program, titled "The Fotografia Beleza Collection," CEPESE was tasked with cataloging and captioning nearly 300,000 photographic items over twelve months. These items are now available on the portal www.espoliofotograficoportugues.pt/en, part of the Portuguese Photographic Archive