Mauritius Photography Museum Port Louis
Visit of the Mauritius Photography Museum
The visit to this beautiful stone building will definitely startle professional photographers as well as amateurs with its array of collections and worldly possessions mostly collected by some keen enthusiasts.
The guided tour of the museum, offered by one of the family members of the museum founders or by one of their knowledgeable associates, lasts around an hour but as generously stated by Mr Breville (the museum founder) that “there have been people who were so lost on the picturesque display that they spent the whole day there”.
About the photography museum
Hidden behind the cobbled pathways of the back roads of Port Louis, you will be amazed by the trip down memory lane.
Born from the passionate love of Photography of Mr Tristan Breville and, his wife’s sparkling hunger for life, little treasures, the museum was put in place in the late 1960s.Their daughter Marie Julie is now making it a family affair to keep the tradition rooted down in our human culture.
The Photographic Museum greatly surprises visitors with one of the largest collections of exhibits, portrays and equipment used in the old ages mainly in the 1800s and early 1900s.
As far as photography is concerned, you will discover photography from its early roots when the principle of imagery copying was used dating back to the early 1800’s.
The museum also exhibits the daguerreotype process, named after the French associate photographer who successfully developed clear imagery prints on copper and silver backgrounds that was first introduced in the late 1830s.
Mauritians were not left far behind in the cult of photographic imagery. A Mauritian with German origin bought one of the first daguerreotype cameras first on sale in France and from his noble camera came one of the earliest pictures ever daguerreotyped in 1842 and such is displayed at the museum.
The equipment displayed at the museum ranges from the press machine dating back from 1773 to the earlier Gaumont stereoscopic film used in cinema halls from 1913.
The gallery includes earlier colonial sceneries of sugar barons and plantations as well as remote village way of life to the development of cities like Rose Hill and Port Louis pinnacle architecture. Additional interesting facts on the photography museum In 1995 the museum was visited by 176 researchers worldwide in support of the role of photographic representation of the early days.
The founder, Mr Breville participated in 12 exhibitions and has provided photographic documents to multiple publishers worldwide.
The museum has and is participating in restoring old tabloids publications with evidence of daguerreotype. Through that, you will get to see a collection of over 400 newspaper cuts between the years 1839 to 1945.
In establishing central iconographic documentation, the museum is an understated hub for journalists, students as well as researchers.
These artistic and intricate work are commonly enjoyed by students and researchers for knowledge-based quests
Start & End times:
Operating times:
Monday to Friday, 10.00 – 15.00
Duration:
The duration of the entire visit and the gallery visit can take about 30 minutes to 1 hour approx.
The guided tour of the museum lasts around an hour
The tour is offered every day except Saturday and Sunday