Interesting and Rare Retro Photos of Europe (21 photos)

Each photo is like a time machine: they show how people lived, enjoyed and were surprised in different parts of the Old World.





Slums of Paris, Porte de Clignancourt district, 1928.



The line of fortifications built by order of Adolphe Thiers in 1840 had become obsolete by 1871. The previously undeveloped lands along the walls and bastions, known as the "zone", were still used for military security, and were gradually populated by the poorest population, who had no other means of housing. At the beginning of the 20th century, the slums stretched to the horizon, 30,000 people lived there in appalling sanitary conditions, without water, heating, electricity, sewage and garbage disposal... The destruction of the fortifications in 1919 and construction projects gradually reduced the area of these fortifications, but these slums existed around Paris long after the Second World War.

Rural life in the GDR, 1950s.





Photographer: Ludwig Schirmer

In the 1950s, a miller from Berke and part-time photographer, Ludwig Schirmer began documenting life in his village. He photographed ordinary workers, holidays, and his own life.

Postal service of the canton of Valais. Switzerland, 1950.



In 1849, the Swiss Post used almost 500 carriages and 250 horse-drawn sleighs. By 1913, the number had grown to 2,000 carriages and 1,000 sleighs. By the middle of the 20th century, despite the already advanced technologies, sleighs were still used to deliver to hard-to-reach places.

Wuppertal Suspension Railway. Germany, 1951.



The Wuppertal Suspension Railway is one of the most unusual and oldest urban transport systems in the world. Located in the city of Wuppertal, Germany, it has been running over the Wupper River and the city streets since 1901, as if hovering in the air. Construction began in 1898 in response to the growing need for transport in the rapidly developing industrial city. The narrow streets and winding riverbed did not allow the construction of conventional tram lines, so engineers chose an innovative solution - an electric suspended railway. The project was developed by engineer Ernst von Siemens, brother of the famous Wilhelm Siemens. The road was officially opened on March 1, 1901.

Swedish police officers on skateboards, 1976.



Paris, 1953.



Photographer: Marc Riboud

Krakow, Poland, 1970.



A Dutch peasant family, 1913-1916.



At the beginning of the 20th century, in some rural areas of the Netherlands, especially in the provinces of Drenthe and Groningen, there were still turf dugouts - simple dwellings rooted in a centuries-old tradition. These houses, known as "plaggenhüten", were built directly into the ground and covered with a thick layer of turf, which provided excellent insulation in the winter. The walls and roof were made of turf laid in thick layers on a frame of wood and peat. The floor was below ground level, which helped to retain heat. There was one window and a low door - a minimum of openings to retain heat. Inside, there was one room where people lived and sometimes cattle. These houses were built in poor farming and working-class communities where there was no access to bricks or other building materials. They were cheap, but dark, damp and overcrowded. By the 1930s, the plaggenhüten had almost disappeared, but their image is preserved in open-air museums such as the Ethnos Museum in Drenthe, where you can see reconstructed dugouts and imagine how people lived in the past.

A car collides with a boat in the Rosenlund Canal near Feskekerka, Gothenburg, Sweden, 1956.



A Swiss-made Peter Snow Miller snowblower is used to cut a main trench during the construction of Camp Century, a U.S. Arctic military research base in Greenland, June 1959.



The base was an extensive network of trenches dug into the snow and ice and reinforced with corrugated steel arches. It was later revealed that Camp Century was a cover for the secret Project Iceworm, an ambitious US plan to create hidden nuclear missile launch sites under the Greenland ice sheet. However, both the base and the project were abandoned in 1967 when it was discovered that the Greenland ice sheet was too unstable and not stable enough to support such installations in the long term. The ice gradually deformed the tunnels, making them unusable.

Antwerp, Belgium, 1957.



Photographer: Valentin Khukhlaev

Mountaineers climbing a rock in the Swiss Alps, 1920.



Flea market. France, 1946.



Photographer: Robert Doisneau

View from the window. Trastevere, Rome, 1953.



Photographer: Herbert List

Workers atop the Eiffel Tower put the finishing touches on the giant steel structure in Paris, 1924.



The Eiffel Tower was opened on March 31, 1889, in honor of the World's Fair. Its metal parts were originally painted in a rich red "Venetian" color, which gave the structure a bright, almost theatrical appearance. Since then, the tower has been repainted about 20 times. Over its history, it has changed seven different color schemes: from bright yellow to different shades of brown. Particularly memorable is the period from 1899 to 1907, when the tower was painted in five gradient tones - from orange at the base to light yellow at the top, to visually soften its scale against the sky. Since 1968, the Eiffel Tower has acquired its current color - "Eiffel gray", a special composition consisting of three shades that darken as they rise. This color has not only become the tower's calling card, but also provides better protection against corrosion. Today, painting is a large-scale process that is carried out every 7 years and requires 50-60 tons of paint. Each layer is applied by hand - exactly according to the testament of Eiffel himself, who understood that the beauty of a tower is in its care, and its durability is in care.

Girl at a well with oxen, Austria-Hungary, 1904.



Village resident. France, 1931-1934.



Photographer: Francois Kollar

Youth of Leipzig, 1980s.



Barge on the banks of the Seine. Paris, 1986.



Photographer: Robert Doisneau

Swan. Czech Republic, 1960s.



Photographer: František Dostal