The photographic collection held by the Photography Department of the Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO) began to take shape with contemporary production and it was only in the autumn of 2010 that the first two samples of images captured in historical photographic techniques were acquired. These early photographs were the puharotype and the daguerreotype.

At the time when the number of photos taken in a single year is growing exponentially and by far exceeds the visual stock of the entire history of mankind, we are forced to ask ourselves once again about the purpose of preserving both ongoing and past, artistic and any other material production with the potential or even the status of cultural-historical heritage.