Clișoteca-Fototeca

The Museum of National History and Archaeology Constanța holds valuable collections of negatives and photographs, either made in its own laboratory or purchased from contemporary photographic artists. Most of these collections are original, which makes their preservation and conservation – along with the maintenance of photographic equipment and objects – an institutional priority. According to the internal records, the photographic archives are structured in two parts: the clichoteca-phototeca.

Negativ pe sticla_Colectia V. Nicolau (1) Manissalian

Among the most valuable collections are the glass plate negatives made by Virgil Nicolau (born March 25, 1889, Constanța), one of the most remarkable documentary photographers of interwar Dobrogea. Between 1925 and 1960, together with his colleague Aurel Demetru Lupu, Nicolau faithfully immortalized the complexity of the institutional landscape and the cultural diversity of Dobrogea. His collection, considered emblematic for the semicentennial anniversary of the Union of Dobrogea in 1928, was restored and digitized starting in 2016, within the cultural project entitled History on a Cliché: the restoration, conservation and revitalization of Dobrogean photographic heritage from the beginning of the 20th century, launched by the Constanța Museum of National History and Archaeology, with financial support provided by the National Cultural Fund Administration. This important undertaking was capitalized on by the publication of the album HISTORY ON A CLICÉ. Multicultural Dobrogea in the collection of photographer Virgil Nicolau (2016), as well as by organizing a traveling exhibition in 2024: Virgil Nicolau - Photographer of Constanța and Mamaia of the past.

In the same year, the Museum of National History and Archaeology Constanța initiated a new project – Stories in Silver – dedicated to the valorization of negatives and photographic documents from the museum’s heritage. The project, financed from its own sources, is conceived as a long-term initiative, aiming to digitize the archives and facilitate public access to these visual resources through an online platform: www.povestiinargint.ro.

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Clișoteca-Phototeca