You Won’t Believe How These Iconic Scenes Transformed Over Time—40 Stunning Then and Now Photos Revealed
Ever wondered what it would be like to peek through a magical window that fuses yesterday with today? Well, r/OldPhotosInRealLife is pretty much the closest thing to a bona fide time machine on the internet. With nearly 600,000 members snapping photos of spots already frozen in history, this subreddit blends past and present so seamlessly, you might just do a double take wondering if you stepped into a parallel universe. From hauntingly overgrown Machu Picchu in 1915 to bustling visitors at The Met in 2019, the community’s knack for rephotography offers fresh, fascinating glimpses that flip our usual perspective on its head. Intrigued yet? Wait ’til you see what’s been uncovered since we last dove into this nostalgic rabbit hole. LEARN MORE.
The subreddit r/OldPhotosInRealLife is pretty much the closest thing we have to a time machine. Its 596k members are constantly comparing past and present through rephotography — the act of taking a photo of a place that has already been photographed before. The end result is like a portal, fusing together two different periods.
After we at Bored Panda published our first story on this online community, we’ve kept an eye on it and quickly realized that its earlier posts weren’t a fluke. From overgrown Machu Picchu in 1915 compared to the site in 2020 to visitors in The Metropolitan Museum Of Art in 1910 and 2019, r/OldPhotosInRealLife consistently features interesting angles, presenting things in a different perspective to the one we’re used to.
My Family Farm C.1900/2000. It Was In Our Family For 125 Years. My Childhood Bedroom Window Is In The Top Center. It Was Also My Father’s And My Grandfather’s Bedroom
Here Is My Great Great Grandfather’s Nashville House In 1896, Two Years Before My Grandfather Was Born. This Picture Has Always Been In The Family Of Course, But Only Today Did I Use Google Maps To Look Up The Address And Find It How It Looks Today. I’m Thrilled That I Found It
Visitors In The Metropolitan Museum Of Art, Viewing Painting (Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing The Delaware – 1851) 1910 And 2019
Van Gogh’s ‘Cafe Terrace At Night’ From 1888 And Present
In 2005, Some Friends And I Found The Road To Jabba’s Palace Off Twenty Mule Team Canyon In Death Valley, Ca
The Main Entrance To The City, York, England 1865 – 2015
It Hasn’t Changed Much In 157 Years, Aside From The Platform Height And Electrification. The World’s Oldest Undeground Station, Baker Street! *saxophone Plays In The Distance*
Town Square In Uelzen, Lower Saxony, Germany- During The Battle Of The Rhine, April 1945 And 2021
Church St. Martin In Cologne, Germany 1946 And 2021
Curtiss C-46 Commando, One Of Pablo Escobar / Carlos Lehder’s Drug Smuggling Planes Near Norman’s Cay In The Bahamas, After 35 Years Submerged In Saltwater
Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur, India. 1798 Lithograph By Thomas Daniell And 2016. Built Between 1003-1010
Arch Of Constantine In Rome, 1943 (Taken By My Grandfather), And What It Looks Like Today
A Former Public Bath In Wuppertal, Germany, Now A Brewery And Beer Hall. 1993 vs. 2019
Trains At Harper’s Ferry, Wv In 1947 And 2021. The 1947 Image Taken By Ed Wittekind, 2021 Image Shot By Me In The Same Exact Spot
