Carlos Relvas was born in the Palácio do Outeiro (palace), in Golegă, in November 1838,
and he was the son of a rich land owner who had come from the Beira Interior region of Portugal
and had sucessfully settled in the Ribatejo region.

Carlos Relvas left us an extraordinary image patrimony that makes him internationally known.
But he also left us the unique house-studio in Golegă, the only of its kind worldwide and
for ever linked to his work and life project.

Being an eclectic man, Relvas was mostly interested in photography, thus creating a
major work, where the impressive house-studio that he built in 1875 on the garden of
his house in Outeiro stands out. Besides being a photographer, he was also a politician,
a farmer, a horse-breeder and a horseman, an inventor and even a musician.
With an iron structure, the two-storey house has been decorated accordingly to the
Romantic tendencies of the time, which makes it look like some sort of monument.
Apparently, the building resembles a Christian church, having three naves and a
transept at the end , the result of joining glass and iron together with the
transparency and elegance of the architecture – a religious, almost magical, effect.

http://www.casarelvas.com/site/uk/php/vida.php

http://www.casarelvas.com/site/uk/php/casa_estudio.php