The Udine City Museums’ photo library (Fototeca) is an essential point of reference for both local and international historians and scholars, providing access to a vast array of photographs, negatives and plates (around 180,000 images in total)
The archives are constantly updated, as are all records relating to the city’s museums and records of local events. The main archive is the Archivio Friuli, which includes photographs relating to the entire region. Taken principally by Friulian photographers (among them Malignani, Modotti, Torso, Antonelli, Brisighelli, Pignat, Ciol, and Viola), these images depict landscapes, monuments, works of art, events, customs and traditions from the middle of the nineteenth century onwards.
One of the most important acquisitions was the Archivio Brisighelli, which was jointly purchased by Udine City Council and Provincial Authority of Udine in 1982. This includes much of the work realised by Attilio (1880-1966) and his son Giuseppe Brisighelli (1914-1988).
In 1992, a further important acquisition was made, that of the Archivio Pignat, which records the work undertaken by the Pignat photo studio, which was one of the leading studios working in the city during the late nineteenth century and for most of the first half of the twentieth century. The images are the work of Luigi Pignat (1862-1915), who favoured portrait photography and who also initiated a photographic project recording works of art, and his son Carlo (1898-1966) who preferred photo-reportage, landscape, and later ecclesiastical architecture.
The photo library has also been entrusted with the nineteenth-century archives belonging to the Società Alpina Friulana (Friulian Alpine Society) and its own photographic archives bring together a rich array of images relating to the Civici Musei collections.
In 1993 a new cataloguing initiative was launched with the centro di catalogazione di Villa Manin and to date the SIRPAC database has published over 9,000 images online, which can be accessed at SIRPAC by clicking on the "Beni Fotografia" tab under "Beni Culturali".
LIST OF ARCHIVES
- Friuli
- Brisighelli
- Pignat
- Marchetti
- Valentinis
- Bujatti
- Del Torso
- Valent
- Silvestri
- Bruschi
- Antonelli
- Peressi
- Fiorini
- Società Alpina Friulana
GENERAL INFO RMATION
Fototeca
Castello di Udine, 3° piano
Tel. 0432 1272972
E mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
SERVICES
The Fototeca offers the following services:
- Access to the archives for consultation purposes on completion of a request form and on agreement to abide with the regulations.
- The reproduction and reprinting of archived materials for research, study or publication purposes will be granted by the head librarian upon request, in accordance with the list of published charges, provided that: the purpose for which the images will be used is expressly stated; that said purpose is in keeping with the aims of the Institute; and finally that the physical condition of the requested resources allows for such reproduction.
- The loan of original vintage photographs stored in the Photo Library archives - strictly for exhibition initiatives only – provided that all the official requirements governing the exhibition of photographic and all other artworks are met. There shall be no loan of original photographs, plates, negatives or colour slides to scholars or otherwise, publishers, printers or cultural bodies and institutions.
- Educational activities arranged through the Museums’ Educational Service.
OPENING HOURS
Monday to Friday morning: 9.00 -12.30
Monday afternoon: 14.30-17.00 by prior appointment only