Collections of photographs and other documents
The National Heritage Institute has for many years (in the case of some of its predecessors, practically for a hundred years) systematically collected and sorted historical evidence relating to monuments, their use, alterations and so on. The files and collections at the various branches of the institute also house a large number of historical construction plans, survey results and other documents that are of considerable help to both specialists and owners of historic buildings in their efforts to care for them.
The historical photographs are of exceptional interest to researchers. The photographic documentation collection housed at the institute’s headquarters contains over a million phoographs, including seventy thousand valuable glass negatives, some of them from the end of the 19th century, as well as thousands of negatives and slide. The photographic collections at the regional specialist branches contain current and historical photographic documentation of the monuments in that region.
Most of the documents can be consulted in the place where they are kept, in other words at the specialist branch in the region where the monument is situated. Some of the documents, historical photographs, plans and other types of document have, however, been digitalised and are available on-line.