An exhibition featuring over 130 old photographs, titled "Imagens e Memória do Concelho do Porto Santo / Pictures and Memory of the Municipality of Porto Santo," opens to the public on September 17 at the Porto Santo Town Hall, remaining on display until December 31. Promoted by the Regional Directorate of Archives, Libraries, and Books, through the Atlantic History Studies Centre – Alberto Vieira, the exhibition recovers images produced between the late 19th century and the 1970s, organized into seven thematic nuclei.
The exhibition is divided into sections such as "Coastal Landscapes," "Town," "Summer Island and Beach Resort," "Water," and "Religious and Civil Buildings," allowing visitors to follow the main transformations in the landscape and daily life of Porto Santo. Water holds a particular place in this exhibition, as its scarcity marked the lives of the population for centuries and constrained agriculture, in a territory that often depended on Madeira for the supply of various products.
The municipality of Porto Santo is one of the oldest in the archipelago, with its creation dating back to the mid-15th century. The images belong to different documentary collections preserved in the Madeira Archive and Library, including work from photographic studios such as Augusto João Soares, Foto Figueiras, Gino Romoli, and the Madeira Photography Museum – Vicente's Atelier. The coordination is overseen by Filipe dos Santos, Director of Services at CEHA-AV.
This is the tenth exhibition integrated into the project "Images and Memory of the Municipalities of Madeira," launched in March 2019 in the context of the celebrations of the 600th anniversary of the Discovery of the Islands of Madeira and Porto Santo. The opening coincides with the first day of Festival Colombo 2026, which will take place in Vila Baleira between September 17 and 20, a date on which a guided tour of the exhibition has also been announced.
