Photography Museum, Funchal, Madeira

Walking idly along in the area where the English Church is located I came acroos this intriguing building. The plaque reads in part "Dating from 1865 the studio of phographia Vicentes is the oldest professional photography studio in Portugal. Vincentes Photographos was started by Vincente Gomes da Silva (1827-1906) who set up business in Funchal in 1848 after being photographer for the Royal Houses of Austria, Brazil and Portugal.
Through this studio passed the entire spectrum of the regional cosmopolitan society which included those from the mainland and from abroad who saw Madeira in the C19th & 20th as a health and leisure resort.
The museum, inaugurated in 1982, has an original collection of 400,000 negatives plus the photographic paraphenalia, scenic backdrops and furnishings that made up the atelier. It also contains collections from various professional and amateur photographers . . ."