Founded and incorporated within the Castle in 1933, the Civic Photographic Archive of Milan is today one of the most important institutes of its kind in Italy. The Archive collection constitutes an important testimony of the history of photography, but also of Milanese, Italian and European arts, as well as of social and political history, exploration and travels to the near and far East. The photographic heritage is composed of 850.000 original photographs, datable between 1840 and today, representing all the experimental photographic techniques attempted in the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as works by important photographers including, Nadar, Adolphe Braun, Franz Hanfstaengl, the Brogi and the Alinari of Florence, the Andersons of Rome. Also, phototgraphers working throughout Europe and in various parts of the Ottoman Empire, China and Japan; Novecento photgraphers such as Emilio Sommariva, Antonio Paolbetti, Mabrio Perotti, Mario Crimella, Dino Zani. The various collections include such diverse subjects as the historic and artistic heritage of Milan and Lombardy, the urban and social history of Milan, portraits, journalism focused on various historic events, such as the Roman Republic of 1849, the Risorgimento and 1898 uprisings, Italian landscapes, views of European and world cities in the Ottoman Empire, China, India and Japan.