Fortepan (since 2010)

Fortepan is a free-to-use, community photo archive where users can browse and download over 200,000 archive photos for free, in high quality.

Fortepan was founded in 2010 by Miklós Tamási, then a staff member of the Archivum, together with Ákos Szepessy, and the portal was launched with the technical support of the Archivum and financial backing from the Kortörténeti Alapítvány.

The project took its name from the Vác-based Forte photo supplies manufacturer; after the war, this was the name of the most common and popular negative film in Hungary. The online archive was originally based on the founders’ personal collection. Most of the photographs came from clear-outs in Budapest: 5,000 scanned images from discarded albums and negative films spanning more than twenty years.

The founders had a dual purpose in presenting and sharing the collection. On the one hand, they aimed to draw attention to the legacy of (mostly unknown) amateur photographers. On the other, they sought to make historically valuable photographs—freely publishable—accessible to the public. In defiance of the publication and copyright practices often (and necessarily) followed by public collections, Fortepan’s images may be used free of charge.

Shortly after the website’s launch, it became clear that many people identified with these goals. The first contributors appeared, gladly offering their old albums or personal photographs for the public good. As a result, the site began to evolve: family collections were added alongside the images of unknown photographers. Several institutions and photo archives also came forward, offering their materials for free selection and publication. Thanks to these contributions, thousands of new photographs curated by the editors are added to Fortepan each year.