Collection. The formation of the collection of the Latvian Museum of Photography began in 1991.
The formation of the collection began in 1991. The first object of the collection was recorded in 1992. It was the black-and-white picture “Mūžam zili ir Latvijas sili” made by Bruno Alsins in the 1970s. Currently the collection consists of approximately 60,000 objects – glass plates, film negatives, diapositives and photographs, as well as photo cameras, albums and postcards. The objects are grouped in several collections where the largest one is the Strenci Photo Studio collection containing approximately 13,000 photos from the beginning of the 20th century – studio photographs, portraits, different city sceneries and the everyday life scenes of Strenci inhabitants at that time. The collection also stores work compilations of several authors – the photographs and negatives of Karlis Lakse, Juris Bokums, Girts Bokums, Zanis Legzdins, Juris Riekstins, Gustavs Zakerts. Among the oldest objects are the daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and ferrotypes. Unique objects are the panoramic photographs taken during the 1920s. In the one-meter long group photo around 500 people are captured. The collection of stereophotographs contains pictures dating as early as the end of the 19th century. The spatial illusion characteristic for such photos can be seen using the specially designed old-time stereoscopes. A wide range of postcards are available depicting sceneries of Riga, Liepaja and other cities throughout time, as well as portraits of actors, musicians, poets and other famous people. The collections also include works of contemporary photographers such as Mara Brasmane, Astrida Meirane, Valts Kleins, Leonids Tugalevs, Uldis Banga and others. The museum is grateful for every donation contributing to the establishment of its collection.