Vicente Gomes da Silva (1827-1906), official photographer to the royal houses of Portugal and Brazil, set up his studio here in 1846. With no fewer than 400,000 negatives, to which over the years more than 300,000 have been added thanks to donations from collectors and photographers, the collection is the most important record of life in Madeira in the 19th and 20th centuries. A visit to this museum, which has been completely modernised and is constantly fascinating, is not to be missed.