What the places where famous world buildings were built used to look like (10 photos)

We are unlikely to ever see what the Giza Plateau looks like without the Great Pyramids, since they will most likely stand for several more millennia. But we don’t have photographs from Cairo before the construction of the pyramids began, since the first photograph will appear in the world only a couple of thousand years later.





But some other great buildings were erected not so long ago, and mankind has preserved photographs or at least engravings that show what famous places looked like before the buildings familiar to us all appeared there.

1. Louvre Museum in Paris before and after the construction of the Louvre pyramid in Napoleon's courtyard



The pyramid was built in 1989.

2. Champ de Mars in Paris before and after the construction of the Eiffel Tower





The tower was built in 1889.

In the photo on the left you can see the Trocadéro Palace, which stood until 1935, when it was decided to replace it with the Palais de Chaillot, which can be seen behind the tower in the photo on the right.

3. Liberty Island (then Bedloes Island) in New York before and after the construction of the Statue of Liberty



The statue was built in 1886.

The image on the left is an antique engraving from 1857, which depicts Bedloes Island and the walls of the 11-pointed Fort Wood, inside which the Statue of Liberty was installed.

4. Port Jackson Harbor on Bennelong Point in Sydney before and after the construction of the Sydney Opera House



The Opera House was built in 1973. Previously, there was a tram depot in its place.

5. Mount Corcovado in Rio de Janeiro before and after the construction of the Christ the Redeemer statue



The statue was installed in 1920.

6. San Francisco Bay Area Before and After Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge



The bridge was built in 1937.

7. Corner of Resslova Street and the embankment in Prague during World War II and after the construction of the Dancing House



The Dancing House was built in 1996. In the photo on the left is the same building, but after the bombing in 1945.

8. Connection of Broadway, Fifth Avenue and East 23rd Street in New York before and after the construction of the Flatiron Building



The building was built in 1902. The photo on the left shows the Cumberland House standing on the site of a skyscraper in 1884.