TERMS AND CONDITIONS


  1. Direção Regional de Cultura do Norte (DRCN) is a decentralized organisation of the Ministry of Culture, created by Decree-Law No. 215/2006 of 27th of October. Its mission and duties are set out in Regulatory Decree No. 114/2012 of 25th of May.

  2. DRCN archives constitute an information collection of unavoidable historical and technical value for the Northern region of Portugal, constituting an essential tool to support research, teaching and the definition of policies, strategies and actions for planning, urban qualification and rehabilitation, architectural, urban and landscape rehabilitation and to safeguard and improve the material and immaterial, movable and immovable Cultural Heritage.

  3. Arquiv@ is the official name of the DRCN online archive, created in 2022 and available on the website arquiva.culturanorte.gov.pt

  4. Arquiv@ is based on the:

    • Principle of Cultural Heritage as a major factor of individual and social identity, essential to the achievement, training, empowerment and well-being of citizens and communities, promoting a qualified and sustainable economic and social development;
    • Mission to promote the production, collection, processing, conservation, access and use of more and better documentally validated information in the Cultural Heritage area;
    • Aim to contribute to improving the quality of the scientific, technical, administrative and commercial performance of users, entrepreneurs, researchers, trainers, technicians and managers in the Cultural Heritage area by defining initiatives, policies, strategies, planning, execution, quality control and evaluation;
    • Goal to safeguard, preserve, disseminate and optimise access to the archives of DRCN, including not only the active archives of the services that currently make up its organisation, but also the archives of extinct services whose competencies it includes, such as the Instituto Português do Património Cultural (IPPC), Instituto Português do Património Arquitetónico (IPPAR), Instituto Português dos Museus (IPM), Instituto dos Museus e da Conservação (IMC), among others;
    • Ambition to contribute to the strengthening of transparency and public accountability of the decision-making and execution processes of the various agents active in the Cultural Heritage area; the increase of collective awareness of its intrinsic, cultural, human and economic value; the importance of its preservation and authenticity; the promotion of scientific and technical research in all associated disciplinary areas; the use of documentary information as an educational resource and a source of cultural and touristic fruition;
    • Target Audience:
      • Directors and technicians of DRCN;
      • Individual and collective cultural agents, public and private, namely managers and technicians of organisations and services of direct and indirect administration of the Portuguese State and regional and local autarchies, companies, associations and professionals of the sector;
      • Educational community;
      • Scientific community;
      • The general public.


  1. Arquiv@ is located at:

    Address: Casa Allen, Rua António Cardoso nº 175, 4150-081 Porto, Portugal (GPS 41.155823, -8.641914)
    Telephone: (+351) 226 000 454 (national landline)
    Email: arquiv@culturanorte.gov.pt

  2. Arquiv@ makes DRCN's administrative and audiovisual archives, including nondigital objects and digital reproductions of original documents in physical support, available online in digital format, universally and free of charge.

  3. The archives of DRCN available online in arquiv@ are:

    • Direção de Serviços dos Bens Culturais (Porto)
    • Divisão de Promoção e Dinamização Cultural (Vila Real)
    • Mosteiro de São Martinho de Tibães (Braga)
    • Museu D. Diogo de Sousa (Braga)
    • Museu da Terra de Miranda (Miranda do Douro)
    • Museu de Alberto Sampaio (Guimarães)
    • Museu de Lamego (Lamego)
    • Museu do Abade de Baçal (Bragança)
    • Museu dos Biscainhos (Braga)
    • Paço dos Duques de Bragança (Guimarães)
    • Tongobriga (Marco de Canaveses)


  1. By accessing the contents of arquiv@, the user agrees to accept and comply with its Terms and Conditions of Use.

  2. If the user does not accept any of the clauses of the current Terms and Conditions of Use, the user must refrain from accessing the contents of arquiv@.

  3. The user should periodically check the current Terms and Conditions of Use to confirm if any updates or changes have been made. If you do not accept any of the clauses of use, you must refrain from accessing the contents of arquiv@.

  4. Should any part or provision of the current Terms and Conditions of Use be unenforceable or in conflict with applicable law, the validity of the remaining parts or provisions shall not be affected.

  5. Only the contents of arquiv@ that do not contain personal data, in accordance with the Regulamento Geral da Proteção de Dados (RGPD), are accessible to users outside DRCN.

  6. Access to the contents of the arquiv@ by external users is not subject to prior registration and login.

  7. Only duly certified internal DRCN users have full access to the arquiv@ content, through prior identification and login.

  8. The contents of arquiv@ are protected by copyright and are the property of DRCN or third parties.

  9. The access and use of the contents of arquiv@ belonging to third parties are subject to specific conditions individually protocolled.

  10. The access, search, consultation, viewing and download of the contents provided in arquiv@ are public, universal and free of charge, under the terms of the applicable legislation.

  11. The contents of arquiv@ are made available to users for viewing and downloading in a reduced format, with a watermark and/or technical file identifying the source archive and the respective identifier of the digital document/object.

  12. The digital reproduction of the original documents in physical support belonging to arquiv@ is available to the user in PDF multipage format, RGB colour, with 150 dpi definition.

  13. The digital reproduction of the original documents in physical support that integrate arquiv@ provided to the user through the process of Digital Content Transfer is made available in multipage PDF format, RGB colour, with a definition of 300 dpi, or in individual TIF format (1 image = 1 folio), RGB colour, with a definition of 300 dpi.

  14. The access to the original formats (JPEG, TIF, PDF, DWG, DXF, etc.) of the nondigital documents or to the matrixes of the digital reproductions (TIF) of the original documents in physical support is public, universal and free of charge, being, however, subject to previous request through the respective Request for Digital Content Transfer.

  15. The contents of arquiv@ obtained by the user through direct download or through the process of Digital Content Transfer may only be used within the current Terms and Conditions of Use.

  16. Without prejudice to the exceptions permitted by law and the provisions of paragraph 18 of the current Terms and Conditions of Use, the reproduction, modification, distribution, marketing or dissemination of all or part of the contents of arquiv@ is prohibited, unless prior authorisation is granted by DRCN.

  17. The user of the contents of arquiv@ acknowledges that there may exist image rights of persons portrayed or referred to in the documents, as well as copyrights or others over works reproduced in them, and is exclusively responsible for any litigation arising from their use.

  18. DRCN accepts no liability for the unauthorised, improper or abusive use of the contents provided in arquiv@.

  19. DRCN reserves the right to make changes at any time, without prior notice and with immediate effect, to the contents, organisation and image of the archives, as well as to its Terms and Conditions of Use.

  20. The custody, preservation and availability of the physical archives reproduced and made available online in digital format in arquiv@ are the responsibility of the respective producer/holder services.

  21. For on-site consultation of the physical archives reproduced and made available online in digital format on arquiv@, the respective producer/holder service should be contacted.

  22. Although every effort has been made, it has not been possible to identify and describe all the contents available on arquiv@. Those who have information on missing elements are kindly requested to communicate them through the email address arquiv@culturanorte.gov.pt.
    Please help us to complete, update and correct the data made available to users.

  23. Although every effort has been made to do so, it has not been possible to establish authorship and ownership of all the contents available on arquiv@.
    Those who can identify and prove ownership of these rights and who oppose their continuation online are requested to contact us at arquiv@culturanorte.gov.pt.
    Please help us to respect the credits attributed to the rightful owners.

  24. For additional information, please contact us at arquiv@culturanorte.gov.pt. Other contact forms are available in the Contacts section.



©Direção Regional de Cultura do Norte. All rights reserved.

Last Update: 9th November 2022