MUMAF

THE BUILDING

The MUMAF – Museum Collection of Photography of Manises "Carlos Sanchis García"- is located in the "El Arte" building, built by Juan Bautista Huerta Aviñó, a virtuoso in lustreware, who, in the cladding of this building, made use of the decorative possibilities of tiles, painted in gold and cobalt blue on a white background, making this façade particularly special, while, at the same time, drawing attention to the products manufactured therein.

The main themes of the panels refer to good commerce: represented by Mercury and his attributes; productivity: present in the cornucopia from which innumerable ceramic pieces emerge, and to good manufacturing: with the representation of the Alhambra vase, considered at the time the best work ever created in ceramics. The base was designed using the broken tile technique, influenced by the works of Gaudí. In it, you can read the construction date of the building: 1922.

The building had a dual purpose, as it was a factory which occupied the rear part of the building as well as the ceramist’s own dwelling, on the first floor. In 1924, a second body was added to the main building and was decorated in the Hispano-Arabic style inspired in the Alhambra plaster-work.

Following urban requalification of the space occupied by the El Arte factory, and under the ownership by Manises City Council of the building’s top floor, the façade housing the access to the Museum was restored and the museum opened on 24 March 2011.

ORIGIN OF THE MUSEUM

The MUMAF was founded as a result of the donation made by Carlos Sanchis and his wife Concepción García to Manises City Council, in 2009, of their collection of photographic cameras, accessories and laboratory materials, totalling over 2,000 pieces and almost 6,000 photographs varying in type.

The most important cameras are represented in this collection, and, between them, they cover an extensive timeframe from the last decades of the nineteenth century up to the advent of digital photography, a significant number of large format wooden cameras on display in the central part of the museum standing out for their singularity.

PIONEERS IN PHOTOGRAPHY IN MANISES

The museum has a special area in homage to the pioneers in photography in Manises: José García Planells, Juan Santolaria Gómez, Juan Soler Herreras, José Gadea Luján and Carlos Sanchis García and offers a sample of their work alongside the photographic cameras. They are images of a city, its customs and festivals differing greatly from present-day Manises but they remain in the memory of some of the older residents. These photographs come from the collection of photographs donated by Carlos Sanchis, the Archive of negatives from José Gadea Luján and the collection resulting from the “Regala una foto al teu poble” the photograph collection campaign carried out by the Municipal Archive of Manises in the first decade of the twenty first century and which managed to bring together an impressive number of photographs covering practically the whole of the twentieth century.

CAMERAS

The Carlos Sanchis collection emerged as a result of his interest in photography inherited from his uncle José García Planells "El Tio Pepet", who not only left him negatives but also some of his old cameras, all of which made up the original collection. Subsequently, an intense search in flea markets and antique stores led to his collection of a significant number of cameras, some of which were large format wooden cameras, and even miniature and toy cameras in excellent condition. Of those, only approximately 400 are currently on display in a unique sample of the entire collection.

TEMPORARY EXHIBITION HALL

The MUMAF also has a temporary exhibition hall dedicated to exhibitions on photographic productions.

MORE INFORMATION:

Opening hours:

From Monday to Friday, from 9:30 am. to 1 pm.

Other visiting hours, by appointment.

Tickets:

Admission to the collection is free.

Groups:

Group visits must be booked in advance.