Old photos · Czech Republic
Old photos of Prague
A city the war mostly spared, so its photographs change slowly — and one of the few here whose busiest decade is the last, the 1990s.
Time Portal's archive holds about 15,000 photographs of Prague (Praha), taken between 1856 and 2000, each pinned to the spot where the photographer stood. 67% of them date from 1955 or later and are free to browse at map.timeportal.app with no account; the older ones open with Pro. The oldest, dated 1856 in the archive, shows Charles Bridge.
- Photographs
- 15,000
- Oldest
- 1856
- Busiest decade
- 1990s
- Free, 1955 on
- 67%
How many photographs, decade by decade
The busiest decades for Prague are the 1990s and the 1970s — 3,540 and 2,327 photographs. 632 were taken before 1900. Everything from 1955 onward is free to open on the map; the older photographs are part of Pro.
| Decade | Relative size | Photographs |
|---|---|---|
| before 1860 | 11 | |
| 1860s | 40 | |
| 1870s | 53 | |
| 1880s | 93 | |
| 1890s | 435 | |
| 1900s | 848 | |
| 1910s | 463 | |
| 1920s | 645 | |
| 1930s | 1,371 | |
| 1940s | 938 | |
| 1950s | 832 | |
| 1960s | 1,944 | |
| 1970s | 2,327 | |
| 1980s | 1,595 | |
| 1990s | 3,540 |
Where the photographs were taken
Counted in a small square around each place — about 250 metres each way — so a number is every photograph taken there, of the place itself or of the street beside it. Each place opens the map on that spot.
| Place | Photos | Oldest |
|---|---|---|
| Old Town Square | 1,543 | 1856 |
| Charles Bridge | 992 | 1856 |
| Wenceslas Square | 761 | 1870 |
| Prague Castle | 2,332 | 1868–1870 |
| The National Theatre | 151 | 1909 |
What changed
Prague came through the Second World War with its old centre largely standing, so the change in these photographs is slower and smaller. The Josefov ghetto was cleared for new apartment blocks between the 1890s and the 1910s, and St Vitus Cathedral, begun in 1344, was finally completed in 1929 — the view of Charles Bridge from 1856 below shows it still unfinished.
The archive's busiest Prague decade is its last: the 1990s, after the Velvet Revolution of 1989.
Questions about old photos of Prague
Where can I see old photos of Prague on a map?
On Time Portal: about 15,000 photographs of Prague, each pinned where it was taken, most with the direction the camera faced. The map is free in any browser at map.timeportal.app — photographs from 1955 on need no account — and there is an app for iPhone and iPad.
What is the oldest photograph of Prague in the archive?
The oldest precisely dated photograph, from 1856, shows Charles Bridge. 632 of the Prague photographs were taken before 1900.
Which years of Prague are best covered?
The 1990s, with 3,540 photographs, and the 1970s, with 2,327. 67% of the Prague photographs date from 1955 or later.
Open Prague on the map
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The counts on this page are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 — credit Time Portal and link here. The photographs are not ours to license: they belong to their photographers and the archives that keep them.