LIVING HISTORY THROUGH AMAZING PICTURES

A selfie way before it was cool (1920)

The other night we just had a discussion about Fortepan with a friend over a bottle of wine and some snack, and she suggested that the founders of this site should deserve a Nobel price for creating such an amazing thing for the world. And I really think she is right. I’d known Fortepan for some time and I actually found it pretty amazing even when I first saw it, but I never really took the time to browse its pictures thoroughly enough, and to be honest, I also didn’t think that so many more pictures have been uploaded to it recently. But why is Fortepan so precious to us? Not only because it was created by Hungarians, there's so much more to the story. 

So let me tell you a bit about it!

Fortepan started as a private collection of photographs that were taken between 1910 and 1990 mainly in Hungary and the pictures were uploaded by the two founders. They started with 500 pictures that they found either at home or among household junks. As words had spread, more and more people scanned and sent their pictures to the founders and also in the meantime several libraries and institutions contacted them offering their archives, so today it has over 33.000 pictures and this number is increasing day by day. 

Soldiers in World War I

The site is very simple to use, you can read all about it by clicking here. 

But if you think that you would only find pictures of Hungary, then think again! I’ve just realized that there’s a lot of pictures uploaded from all over the world. 

Do you live in New York City, in Switzerland or in a small village of Germany? Check out the site, as you might be surprised, they might have pictures from your neighborhood from your grandparen's childhood as well.

Women in Coney Island in 1915

Check out their site and take the time to browse for either amazing pictures of Hungary in the 20th century or maybe you also have some great pictures that you would like to send to Fortepan so everybody around the world can see it. 

The 1956 Revolution in Budapest

Believe me, it's amazing to see pictures of times that you only heard about from your grandparents, or I think it is also funny to see pictures from my childhood realizing that everybody else looked exactly the same in the 1980s in Hungary.

The Berlin Wall in 1988

It’s like recreating the world in pictures that existed before this whole online social craziness took over. Enjoy what you see there, and if you like it, please spread the word to the world!
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