Paris Picture Overlays

It is already one of the world’s most iconic cities, but this incredible collection shows how much Paris has changed over the course of the past century. The collection, by French photographer Julien Knez, shows Paris in the 1940s against a backdrop of how the same places look today. Knez says he put the striking collection together to celebrate the 71st anniversary of the city’s liberation from Nazi control in August 1944. Pictures featured include Place de la Bastille, which gained notoriety as a focal point of the French Revolution, as well as various streets in and around the French capital, including Rue de la Huchette and Place Saint-Michel. Pictures from 1944 show different places being guarded by Nazi soldiers and survivors of bomb attacks picking through rubble, a stark contrast to a scene of relative serenity in the modern day. Here: President De Gaulle on the Champ Elysees, with the Arc De Triomphe in the background. Continue reading »