Is WordPress the right platform?

I maintain a large static site built by someone else. The bulk of the site consists of some hundreds of pages each containing some structured text – 2-3 paragraphs, plus some regular information, and then a small gallery of photos. Looking at the storage footprint the photos dominate the space taken on the server. The site was expected to be unchanging, but in fact we are always adding or changing it, as better information arrives or better photos get taken. This old site is here: http://www.earlychristianireland.org.

Now, I would like to re-implement the site in such a way as to allow a number of trusted people to edit the material, upload new photos, and even add new pages. I have considered creating it myself with JQuery/Javascript, but it is a big support nightmare. Perhaps WordPress has the means to build this? But WordPress is so vast, I don’t know where to start.

I’d appreciate some advice before I commit to studying.

TOF.