Many of you have probably seen this already, but Sergey Larenkov has a fascinating series of altered photographs at his Live Journal site here.

Larenkov has taken photographs from World War II, found the exact locations (in Berlin, Prague, Moscow, St. Petersburg et. al.) where they were shot, and grafted the old images onto contemporary ones. The effect is a window on the past, and it’s absolutely riveting.

A tank full of soldier-liberators rolls through Porokhovaya Tower in Prague:

Admiral Zhukov walks with other officers down the steps of the Reichstag:

Workers pile sandbags in front of shop windows on Gorkovo Street in Moscow, in preparation for the German onslaught:

Soldiers march down the street past what is now Leningrad’s Jazz Philarmonic Hall:

I find these fascinating partly because I’ve spent a lot of time in Russia, and partly because history – and WWII in particular – really does lurk on every street corner there. On the north side of Nevsky Prospect, the main street of St. Petersburg, there’s a painted warning on the buildings: “Citizens! In the event of SHELLING, this side of the street is more DANGEROUS.” It has been painted and repainted over the ensuing years, as a reminder to everyone of what happened on this now-pleasant street.

There are many more photos at Larenkov’s site, including many incredible images from the Siege of Leningrad. (They’re also larger there, so it’s worth going to have a look). More on how he does it here.

Eliseyevsky grocery store, St. Petersburg’s fanciest food shop, with its elaborate stained glass windows boarded up:

Buildings along the banks of the Neva:

Nevsky Prospect, then and now: