The camera collection
Hundreds of pieces from different eras on the top floor — engaging even for non-photographers.
Dennis Morhardt — CC BY 2.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0
A photography centre in a building that was a prison until 1974: the Cadeia da Relação, a massive eighteenth-century stone block in central Porto. That combination of functions is what makes the visit different. The exhibitions are held inside the cells themselves, with their thick walls and barred windows, and some cells have been left unconverted. Walking the floors gives you the prison building and the photography gallery at the same time. The top floor holds a permanent collection of cameras running to hundreds of pieces from different periods, from early wooden boxes to small spy cameras. It is among the most engaging parts of the place even for someone with no interest in photography. One important practical point: entry is free, and it is one of the few things in Porto combining a significant historic building with serious content at no charge. The Portuguese writer Camilo Castelo Branco was imprisoned here and wrote about it.
Hundreds of pieces from different eras on the top floor — engaging even for non-photographers.
Some were left as they were, so you see the prison and the gallery in the same building.
One of few things in Porto combining a significant historic building with real content at no charge.
Campo dos Mártires da Pátria, Porto
Misericórdia Museum of PortoA museum and church on Rua das Flores in central Porto, showing the holdings of 2 minutes walk4.1
The Clérigos Tower & ChurchClérigos is Porto's sky needle: a 75-metre bell tower that stood two centuries a3 minutes walk4.5
Livraria LelloLello is, without much argument, the world's most famous bookshop: the 1906 neo-3 minutes walk3.8
The Bolsa Palace & Arab HallThe Bolsa Palace is Porto's merchant answer to royal palaces: built by the trade5 minutes walk4.4
Porto Cathedral (the Sé)The Sé is Porto's mother rock: a Romanesque cathedral-fortress (12th century) wi6 minutes walk4.5Yes. The building is half the reason: an eighteenth-century prison whose cells you can walk. The camera collection upstairs works as a small technical museum independent of the exhibitions. And entry is free, so there is nothing to lose.
It is close to the Clérigos Tower and Livraria Lello, all within a short walk in central Porto. Make it the free stop in a day where you are paying for the rest.