Commons:WikiProject Arts/Museum photography

Commons:WikiProject Arts / Conditions fo Taking photographs in museums, collections, artworks in churches, etc. limited to visual arts

Mission: Provide information about museum photography where and under what circumstances photographs can be taken in galleries, museums, etc.

Everyone is invited to contribute!

Tips and tricks

• Visit the site at times when it's least frequented (avoid disturbing people in front of the lens and behind).
• Bring a foldable cardboard to cover disturbing light to prevent reflections.
• Most religious buildings allow taking photographs but make sure that no faces of worshippers are captured (esp. in the islamic buildings).
• Have fully charged spare batteries and enough film rolls/memory space ready. Some interiors are dimly lit and need high ISO speeds.
• Obey policies about taking photographs or videos, otherwise that might not be allowed in the future or being more restrictive. There are institutions where you have to deposit your camera at the entrance on arrival.
• Conditions may change after publication, contact the collection shortly prior your visit to verify.
• Commons:Image_casebook#Museum_and_interior_photography
• See also: de:Wikipedia:Fototipps

List of conditions for taking photographs or videos

Deutsch: Liste zu Fotografier- und Videografiererlaubnissen und -verboten bzw. Einschränkungen

About this list

• Conditions listed here are suited for non-commercial photographers
• If a fee is not stated in the list, then there's no fee (not guaranteed)
• sort criterion by default: city or town
• “Yes” means taking photographs is allowed, “No” accordingly

Note for editors:

• Name the original name of the site first
• If you can provide a source, name it
• Set “yes ” if yes (including restrictions, if applicable)
• Set “no ” if not at all
• Set “? ” if unknown
• "yes", "no" and "?" are sort criteria

City/town	Site	Conditions	Checked
Amsterdam	Rijksmuseum	no www	2009-06-07 Mattes
Athens	National Archaeological Museum of Athens	yes no pods, no flash	2009-08-03
Athens	Acropolis Museum	no no photography or video recording.	2009-08-03
Augsburg	Schaezlerpalais(several museums and galleries)	no no photography without written permission.www	2013-03-16
Bamberg	Neue Residenz - Staatsgalerie	yes but no flashverbal information from museum's offical.	2009-11-29 Mattes
Bamberg	Historisches Museum Bamberg (Alte Hofhaltung)	no no photography or video recording. Mail information from museum's director.	2009-06-04 Chriusha
Basel	Kunstmuseum Basel	no no photography, no videoswww, No. 4	2012-01-03, Mattes
Bayreuth	Neues Schloss - Zweiggalerie der Bayerischen Staatsgemäldesammlungen	no .verbal information from museum's offical and signs.	2011-03-01 Mattes
Berlin	Gemäldegalerie / all Berlin State Museums	yes for private purposes, no flash, no tripods. no for commercial purposes www (PDF) - Berlin State Museums document, individual terms at the location should be checked	YYYY-MM-DD
Bern	Kunstmuseum Bern	? not indicated on the websitewww	2012-12-17 Mattes
Boston, MA	Museum of Fine Arts	? not indicated on the websitewww	2009-06-07 Mattes
Budapest	Magyar Nemzeti Galéria Hungarian National Gallery	yes (fee 1,500 Ft)www	2009-06-06 Mattes
Cambridge, UK	Anglesey Abbey	yes No flash, no tripod. Respect other visitors.	2010-4-1
Cambridge, UK	Cambridge and County Folk Museum	yes Flash, tripod & video tolerated. For personal non-commercial use only	2010-4-22
Cambridge, UK	Kettle's Yard	yes Allowed in the Ede's house if a permit is purchased. For non-commercial, personal, use only. Flash, tripods, video forbidden no No photography allowed in the exhibition gallery.	2010-4-22
Cambridge, UK	Fitzwilliam Museum	no no photography or video recording except the exterior and (usually) the entrance hall. Special arrangements can be pre-negotiated for photography for personal study.www	2010-4-1
Cambridge, UK	Museum of Classical Archaeology	yes Handheld still cameras only. Permitted for personal use only. Not for reproduction or publication, not even on the internet. Use of flash, tripods and video prohibited.	2010-4-15
Cambridge, UK	Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences	yes Permitted for personal educational use only. Not for reproduction or publication. Use of flash, tripods and video tolerated as long as others are not inconvenienced.	2010-4-15
Cambridge, UK	Technology Museum	yes No restrictions on cameras. Avoid inconvenience to staff and other visitors www	2010-4-1
Cambridge, UK	University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology	yes No flash, no tripod, no videos.	2010-4-15
Cambridge, UK	Whipple Museum of the History of Science	yes Permitted for personal educational use only. No flash, no tripod. Not for reproduction or publication. Images for publication will be supplied by the museum.www	2010-4-1
Cambridge, UK	Zoology Museum	yes Still and video allowed, no tripod. Individual special requests considered www	2010-4-1
Chania	Archaeological Museum of Chania	yes No flash, no tripod. Photograhy of a few marked objects forbidden for copyright reasons. Interior can be dark so a high ISO setting may be needed.www	2010-4-2
Chania	Chania Byzantine Museum	no no photography or video recording.www	2010-4-3
Chania	Maritime Museum of Crete	yes www	2010-04-03
Colmar, France	Musée Unterlinden	yes only with written permission plus fixed rate museum fee plus ADAGP fee if applicable.www	2012-07-25 Mattes
Copenhagen	The National Museum of Denmark	yes only private use, tripod not accepted, standard flash accepted [1]	2009-11-20 Nillerdk
Compiègne	Musée de l'Armistice	no no photography or video recording. Clearly visible indicated and communicated by supervisory staff.	2009-09-24 Chriusha
Dresden	Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden)	no no photography or video recording.www (PDF)	2013-10-12
Frankfurt am Main	Städelsches Kunstinstitut	? not indicated on the websitewww	YYYY-MM-DD
Hamburg	Kunsthalle	?	YYYY-MM-DD
Henley-on-Thames, UK	River & Rowing Museum	no no photography or video recordingwww	2011-05-26
Istanbul	Chora Church Museum	yes , no flash or tripod	2010-07 Sandstein
Istanbul	Dolmabahce Palace	yes outside buildings, no inside buildings.	2010-07 Sandstein
Istanbul	Hagia Sophia	yes , no flash	2010-07 Sandstein
Istanbul	Istanbul Archeological Museum	yes , no flash and tripod in the rooms with the Sidon Finds including the Alexander sarcophagus.	2010-07 Sandstein
Istanbul	Istanbul Military Museum	yes , camera usage fee 6 YTL extra.	2010-07 Sandstein
Istanbul	Topkapi Palace	yes outside buildings and in the historic rooms, no in the collection rooms (treasury, relics rooms etc.).	2010-07 Sandstein
Istanbul	Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum	yes , no flash or video. (Rick Steves' Istanbul, 2009, incorrectly reports that all photography is forbidden.)	2010-07 Sandstein
Karlsruhe	Badisches Landesmuseum	? not indicated on the websitewww	2009-06-06 Mattes
Karlsruhe	Staatliche Kunsthalle	? not indicated on the websitewww	2012-06-24 Mattes
London	British Museum	yes photography with flash and video recording is permitted in most galleries for private purposes only, using hand-held equipment. www	2009-08-06
London	London's Transport Museum	? not indicated on the website www	2009-08-06
London	National Portrait Gallery	no no photography or video recording.www	2009-08-03
London	Natural History Museum	yes With a hand-held camera (no tripod, flash or lighting) for personal and private use. www	2009-08-06
London	Pitzhanger Manor Museum & Gallery	yes photography with flash and video recording is permitted but a form must be signed declaring that they are for personal use only. However, this insistence is not mentioned on any of its websites. www	2008
London	Science museum in South Kensington	? only the conditions for photography and filming by the ‘media’ is mentioned on the website www	2009-08-06
London	Victoria and Albert Museums (both South Kensington and Museum of Childhood)	yes and flash photography is permitted. Tripods by ‘prior’ arrangement only. no Some restrictions do apply though in some galleries and for some exhibits, so check.www	2009-08-03
Los Angeles	Getty Center	yes but no pods, no flashwww	2009-06-07 Mattes
Madrid	Museo del Prado	no no photography or video recording. www www	2012-08-08 Mattes
Madrid	Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza	? not indicated on the websitewww	2009-06-07 Mattes
Merseyside	Merseyside Maritime Museum	yes non-commercial photography only, flash and tripods forbiddenwww	2011-06-13
Milan(o)	Pinacoteca ambrosiana	no interiorwww	2012-05-03 Mattes
Montpellier	Musée Fabre	no strictly prohibited and indicated by the staff, both photos and films.	~2008-09 Atlan da Gonozal
Munich	Hypo-Kunsthalle	no no photography or video recording.	2009-08-23 Mattes
Munich	Alte Pinakothek	yes but no tripod, no artificial light	2009-06-06 Mattes
Munich	Neue Pinakothek	yes but no tripod, no artificial light	2013-03-10
Munich	Villa Stuck	? not indicated on the websitewww	2009-09-12 Mattes
New York City	Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met)	? not indicated on the websitewww	2009-06-07 Mattes
Paris	Musée du Louvre	yes but no flash, no mobile phoneswww	2009-06-08 Mattes
Prague	Národní galerie National Galleries	yes (unless specified otherwise) but no tripod, no flashwww	2009-06-07 Mattes
Rome	Villa Albani	?	YYYY-MM-DD
Rome	Museo Barracco di Scultura Antica	? not indicated on the websitewww	2009-08-06 Mattes
Rome	Museo e Galleria Borghese	no www (subject for deposit)	2009-07-13 Mattes
Rome	Palazzo Altemps	yes for private purpose	2009-09 Jastrow
Rome	Antiquarium del Palatino	yes for private purpose	2009-09 Jastrow
Rome	Casa del Burcardo	?	YYYY-MM-DD
Rome	Musei Capitolini	yes for private purpose	2009-09 Jastrow
Rome	Museo Carlo Bilotti	?	YYYY-MM-DD
Rome	Museo della civiltà romana Museum of Roman Civilization	? not indicated on the websitewww	2009-06-07 Mattes
Rome	Museo nazionale delle arti e tradizioni popolari National Museum of Folk Arts and Traditions	?	YYYY-MM-DD
Rome	Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant'Angelo	? not indicated on the website www	YYYY-MM-DD
Rome	Galleria Villa Doria Pamphilj	? not indicated on the websitewww	2009 Mattes
Rome	Palazzo Barberini	no	2009-07-27 Mattes
Seattle	Frye Museum	no	2009-08-02 Jmabel
Seattle	Olympic Sculpture Park	yes , though possibly subject to some restrictions; policy has been in some flux	2009-08-02 Jmabel
Seattle	Seattle Art Museum	no in galleries yes in lobby and Art Ladder which contain some significant works.	2009-08-02 Jmabel
Seattle	Seattle Asian Art Museum	no	2009-08-02 Jmabel
Strasbourg	Musée des Beaux-Arts	? not indicated on the website(www)	2012-11-01 Mattes
Strasbourg	Musée de l’Œuvre Notre-Dame	? not indicated on the website(www)	2013-02-03 Mattes
Tallinn	Eesti Kunstmuuseum (KUMU)	?	...
Tokyo	Tōkyō Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan Tokyo National Museum	?	...
Toronto	Art Gallery of Ontario	yes but no flash, no tripods; photos of works or art prohibited, and allowed only for architecture and public areas	...
Vatican	Musei Vaticani Vatican Museums	yes but no flash, no videos (non-regular exhibitions with exceptional written permission) Exception: Sistine Chapel no	2009-07-27 Mattes
Washington, D.C.	National Gallery of Art	yes but no podswww	2009-06-07 Mattes
Wellington	Te Papa	no , cameras allowed but not to take photographs of artefacts etc., and no commercial use allowed in any way www	2009-06-07 Mattes

External links

• Wikiversity:Museum_photography
• fr:Projet:Histoire_de_l'art/Photographes/Musée
• Commons:Image casebook#Museum and interior photography
• de:Wikipedia:Enzyklopädische Fotografie

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