Madeira Museum of Photography-Atelier Vicente, the only studio dedicated to photography in the country, was awarded the 2020 Museum Award by the Portuguese Institute of Museums (APOM).
After five years of refurbishment, with a total value of 1.7 million euros, the Madeira Photography Museum-Atelier Vicente’s Museum reopened in July last year. The museum space was established by Vicente Gomes da Silva in 1863 and was active until 1978, when the building in the center of Funchal and the Madeira Islands regional government acquired this Block has a legacy of more than 1.5 million negatives.
During the reopening period, the Minister of Tourism and Culture Paula Cabaço emphasized in an interview with the Lusa agency that through the museum, four generations of the same family passed.
Three years since the opening of the museum in 1866, Vicente Gomes da Silva has won the title of Empress of Austria, Isabel of Bavaria, Photographer of the Mythical Sissi, and in 1903 he won the title of photographer of the Portuguese royal family. More importantly, his studio became one of the most sophisticated in the 19th century.
The space was opened to the public as a museum in 1982 and closed in 2014 for engineering. The executive invested 1.2 million euros in the restoration of the building and invested 500,000 euros, with 85% contributed by the community for restoration And maintain the collection.
