The photographic collection of the Museu Nacional do Teatro (Portuguese Theater National Museum) has more than one hundred fifty thousand photographs, mainly vintage prints. It is one of the most important photographic assets in Portuguese stage arts. With an unmatched documental value in the country, it’s the live graphic memory of a significant part of the Portuguese theatrical past. It´s exceptional relevance to theatrical studies, art history, visual, cinema, musical and cultural studies lie in it’s constitution integrating the artist union archive with the documental estates of the major personalities of Portuguese stages and theatrical companies.

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The colection is organized in three nuclei:
- Portraits of actors, playwriters, scenographers, theater technicians and other stage people.
- Stage photographs
- Photographs of theaters, theatrical spaces, theatrical publicity.
 

A significant part of the first two nuclei have vintage prints of the major portuguese photographers and photographic studios: Alfred Fillon (1825-1881), Augusto Bobone (1894 -1910), Fotografia Vasques (active 1901-1960), San Payo (1890-1974), Mário Novais (1899-1967), Horácio Novais (1910-1988), Joaquim Silva Nogueira (1892-1959) , João Bourdain de Macedo, Salazar Diniz (1900-1955), J. Marques, José Tudela, António Homem Cardoso (n.1945), Jorge Gonçalves, Luís Jorge Carvalho (b.1954), Augusto Cabrita (1923-1992) and Eduardo Gageiro (b.1935).
 

More than 1.000 personalities of portuguese stage arts, mostly actors, are depicted. Highlights are the photographic collections of Emília das Neves (1820-1883) Taborda (1824-1909), Isidoro (1828-1876), Tasso (1820-1870), Maria Pia (1864 1940), Sargedas (1813-1866), Maria Vitória (1891–1915), for it’s rarity and unusual number the Rosa family (father João Anastácio da Rosa, sons Augusto Rosa (1852-1918) and João Rosa (1843-1910), and o f actress Virgínia (1850-1922), Joaquim Costa (1853-1924), Eduardo Brasão (1855-1925), Rosa Damasceno (1849-1904), Ferreira da Silva (1856-1923), Ângela Pinto (1869-1925), José Ricardo (1860-1925), Lucília Simões (1879-1962) e Lucinda Simões (1850-1928), Chaby Pinheiro (1873-1933), Amélia Rey Colaço (1898-1990) and daughter Mariana Rey Monteiro (n. 1922), Palmira Bastos (1875-1967), Estêvão Amarante (1889-1951) and Luísa Satanella (1895-1974), Erico Braga (1893-1962), Ilda Stichini (1895-1977), Joaquim de Oliveira (1893-1982), Augusto Costa (Costinha) (1891-1976) and Luísa Durão (1899-1977), Francis Graça (1902-1980), Maria Matos (1886-1952) and sister Maria Helena Matos (1911-2002), Vasco Santana (1898-1958), Corina Freire (1897-1986), Beatriz Costa (1907-1996), Mirita Casimiro (1916-1970), Amália Rodrigues (1920-1999), Carlos Coelho (1923-2000), Laura Alves (1922-1986), Eunice Muñoz (n. 1928), José de Castro ( 1931-1977), Ivone Silva (1935-1987), Mário Viegas (1948-1996), Rogério Paulo (1927-1993), Raul Solnado (1929-2009) and Rui Mendes (b.1937).