Unusual and interesting photos from around the world taken in the 20th century (21 photos)

Photographs can transport us to different times and places, offering a unique view of the world through someone else's eyes. Let's go back in time with a new selection of colorized photographs from around the world.





"Blimp" over Tamarama Beach. Australia, Sydney, 1908.



Jerusalem in the snow, February 1921.

Snow in Jerusalem is a very rare phenomenon. Usually, during the entire winter period, the city is covered with snow 1-2 times per season.

But the residents will remember the winter of 1921 for a long time. There was so much snow that snowdrifts formed everywhere. Children played snowballs, slid down the hills, and some even went skiing. There is a large selection of interesting photographs on the Internet of this snow apocalypse by Jerusalem standards.

By the way, until 1948, this was English territory.





Iranian shepherds in traditional woolen capes, 1950s.

Apparently the size of the shoulders is needed to frighten wild animals. So that the wolf thinks that the shepherd is big and scary, and does not approach him.

It is also surprising that all the shepherds are carefully shaved and completely beardless.



A Tibetan greets a photographer in Lhasa, 1955.

Tibetans show their tongues when greeting to show that they have come in peace and friendship. They also show that they are not demons, because a demon's tongue is green. Such a funny tradition.



English Bay Beach, Vancouver, Canada, 1905. Joe Fortes - British-Canadian lifeguard. He was a prominent figure in Vancouver's early history and the city's first official savior. He is officially credited with saving 29 lives, but the actual number is believed to be much higher.



Soviet geologists pose for a photo at the ruins of ancient Palmyra, 1959.

Palmyra was once the richest city of late antiquity, located in one of the oases of the Syrian Desert.



Aborigines in chains at Wyndham Gaol, 1902.

Aborigines may have been arrested under various local laws that prohibited them from entering certain towns or being within a certain distance of them.

It is also possible that they practiced cannibalism. Different tribes had different traditions of ritual cannibalism. Mostly as part of a burial ceremony, but not only. Not on the scale of Papua New Guinea, but they ate a little bit of people.



Demonstration against the law prohibiting possession of marijuana. Canada, Vancouver, 1971.

In the end, the Canadians got their way and almost 50 years later the country legalized marijuana. Officially becoming the second, after Uruguay.



Photographer: Glenn Baglo

Abu Simbel Rock Temple, Egypt, 1960s.

A rock on the west bank of the Nile, in which two ancient Egyptian temples were carved during the reign of Ramesses II (c. 1279–1213 BCE).



Photographer: Kis Şerer

Istanbul, 1958.



Photographer: Ara Güler

First class sleeping car on a train. Canada, 1929.

This is a 1929 first class car, manufactured by the American Pullman Palace Car Company.

The top locker is a berth when folded. There is space for two passengers below. And the lower seats can also be transformed into a berth



Fighters of the elite security unit of the Iranian Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in ​​leopard skin uniforms. Tehran, 1960.

Leopard is trendy at all times.



Family photo, early 20th century.



Frozen Niagara, 1903.

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, Niagara Falls froze much more often than now. In our lifetime, it froze for the last time in 2014 and 2019. A huge number of tourists from Canada and the United States came to see this,



Portrait of a Coal Burner. Havana, 1933.



David Taylor's Butcher Shop, Wellington, New Zealand, 1910.

The unusual shape of the shop makes it look like it's made of plywood.



Caught sea devil (manta). Arabian Sea, off the coast of Karachi, India, 1933.

Manta is the largest species of rays, the width between the fins can reach 9 meters, and the weight of such a sea monster is up to 3 tons.



An Inuk Caribou from Arviat wearing ilgaaq (winter goggles traditionally made from wood, bone, walrus tusk, and caribou antler). Northwest Territories, Canada. 1921. The goggles are used to prevent snow blindness (photokeratitis), which is caused by sunlight reflecting off snow.



The Paricutin Volcano Eruption. Mexico, 1943.

The first eruption of the Paricutin volcano occurred on February 20, 1943, west of Mexico City in the state of Michoacan in a cornfield near the village of Paricutin, which gave the new volcano its name. It is considered the youngest volcano in Mexico.



Belgian girls take a photo with a black boy, whom they locked in a bird cage as part of a game. Congo, 1950s.

The cage has no bottom, so the photo is most likely a joke. Although on the other hand, Belgium was the last country to close the human zoo and this happened relatively recently in 1958.