52 Remarkable Photos That Transport You to the Past

With each photo, you’re not just observing; you’re stepping into a time machine, ready to be transported to a world both foreign and familiar.

“Portraits of a father and son having fun. Ca. 1910s.”

“Three lacemakers at work. Brittany, France. Ca. 1920.”

“Two Victorian ladies making a fancy snow lady. Pangbourne, England. Published in Strand Magazine in 1892.”

“Facade of department store with five floors covered in coats. As part of a coat sale and early marketing stunt. The campaign attracted so many customers that the police had to step in. All the coats were sold. Copenhagen, Denmark. 1936.”

“An Apsaroke mother and her child. Montana, USA. 1908.”

“French painter Claude Monet by his waterlily pond in Giverny, France. 1905.”

“A message-carrying pigeon being released from a port-hole in the side of a British Mark V tank, during WW1. Near Albert, France. 1918.”

“Canadian police officer guarding a pharmacy during a flood. Galt, Ontario, Canada. 1974.”

“A couple roller-skating. Berlin, Germany. Ca. 1905.”

“The Black Gate, the spire of St Nicholas Cathedral and The Dog Leap Stairs in Newcastle, England. 1889. Photo by: Lydell Sawyer.”

“Italian grocery store owned by the Ronga brothers. New York City, USA. January 1943.”

“American photographer Margaret Bourke-White on top off the Chrysler Building. New York, USA. 1930. Photo by: Oscar Graubner. Bourke-White was the first American female war photojournalist.”

“Joe Fortes knoen as Vancouver’s first official lifeguard. Originally from Barbados, Joe saved dozens of lives. English Bay Beach, Vancouver, Canada. 1905.”

“A Friedrichshafen FF.49, two-seat reconnaissance seaplane, crashed into the roof of a building. Germany. Ca. 1918-1919.”

“Detonation of a nuclear bomb. Nevada Test Site, Nevada, USA. March 29, 1955. The detonation was a part of “Operation Teapot”. The operation included 14 nuclear test explosions conducted in early 1955.”

“German troops singing around a Christmas tree in their trench on the Eastern Front during World War I. 1914.”

“Spectators viewing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Gulf of Naples, Italy. 1944.”

“48 cars in a elevator parking garage in Downtown Chicago’s business district, USA. Built by the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, 1936”

“The interior of a lounge train car from the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. Montreal, Canada. Ca. 1886.”

“Photo of Charles C. Ebbets. The photographer behind the famous “lunch atop a skyscraper” photo taken in 1932. Ebbets wasn’t officially recognised as the photographer until 2003. New York, USA. 1932.”

“The 3,000 men who helped construct the 810 ft (246 m) high Chase Manhattan Bank pose for a photo near the end of the constructional work. New York City, USA. August 1964.”

“A U.S. Marine slides down the marble handrail in Saddam Hussein’s palace. Tikrit, Iraq, 2003. Photo by Ashley Gilbertson. The enormous Palace contained rugs and antiquities worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The palace was built in Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit. The city of Tikrit had the highest number of luxurious palaces built during Saddam’s rule, somewhere between 60 and over 100.”

“The Panama Slide in Coney Island’s Steeplechase Park. Built ca. 1908. New York City, USA.”

“Contrails in the sky above St Paul’s Cathedral from a dogfight between the German Luftwaffe and the Royal Airforce during the Battle of Britain. 1940. London, England.”

“Tourist and his car at the edge of the Grand Canyon. Arizona, USA. 1914.”

“The church La Sagrada Família. Barcelona, Spain. 1905. The church is still under construction today.”

“A girl of Filipino and Chinese heritage poses for a portrait. Manila, Philippines. Ca. 1875. The Spanish rulers of the Philippines used the term “Mestizo de Sangley” to describe people of mixed Chinese and native Filipino ancestry. Spain ruled the Philippines from 1565 to 1898.”

“Young people dancing to jazz music at the Storyville Club. Copenhagen, Denmark. 1952. Photo by Helmer Lund Hansen.”

“A group portrait taken at the wedding of Lars Eide and Gjertrud Leite in Sogndal, Norway. Ca. 1900.”

“Women shopping for perfumes and jewelry at Illum department store in Copenhagen, Denmark. 1904.”

“Two young children sitting in the streets of one of the worst slums in London. England. 1903.”

“The control room of the German WW1 submarine SM UB-110. 1918.”

“Canadian soldiers playing hockey on an ice rink constructed on the Imjingang River during the Korean War. Northern Gyeonggi-do Province, South Korea. 1952.”

“An early Edwardian woman taking a mirror selfie with a Kodak Brownie box camera in 1900.”

“French painter Claude Monet with his wife Alice Hoschedè. Venice, Italy. 1908.”

“At the age of 10 years old George Davey was sentenced to one month’s hard labour in Wandsworth Prison for stealing two rabbits. London, England. 1872.”

“The junction of Steep Street and Trenchard Street, Bristol, England. 1866. Photo by John Hill Morgan.”

“Women working in a Canon factory. Japan, 1959.”

“29 year old Pfc. Ivan Babcock of the US Army’s 165th Signal Photo Company poses with the crown of the Holy Roman Empire in a cave during WW2. Siegan, Germany. 3 April 1945. The cave was used by the Germans as a storage room for valuable works of art. Babcock died in 1994 at the age of 77. Photo taken by: E. Braum. The photo has been colorized.”

“Passengers onboard the Staten Island Ferry. New York, USA. 1895.”

“Maintenance worker Stan Giddings painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Sydney, Australia. 18 September 1945. Photographed by Alec Iverson.”

“American planes fly in formation over the American and British fleets in Tokyo Bay during the surrender of Japan at the end of WW2. 2 September 1945.”

“Two young people make a stop at a gas station. 1920s. USA.”

“Portrait of a Kiowa-Crow Native American mother, father, son, and daughter. Ca. 1890s. Photograph by H.G. Perry. South Dakota, USA.”

“British Brigadier-General John Vaughan Campbell addressing men of the 137th Brigade (46th Division) during WW1. St. Quentin Canal, France. 2 October 1918.”

“Group of men wearing an early design of the Michelin Man mascot. Berlin, Germany. 1928.”

“Tower of Toghrul in ca. 1850s. Rey, Iran. Photo by Italian colonel and photographer Luigi Pesce. The Tower of Toghrul was constructed in the 12th century to serve as a tomb for the Seljuk ruler Toghrul who died in 1063. Toghrul was the founder of the Seljuk Empire, which spanned from modern day Turkey to Afghanistan. The tower originally had a dome at its top, which collapsed during an earthquake. Today the tower is 20 meters tall (66 ft.).”