Budapest 1916: Memories in Colour

We may think of our phone cameras and readily available media as a symptom of the modern era, but people from a century ago were also interested in recording the sundry happenings of the day. We are lucky in that there are a number of old tourist films of Budapest, showing life in the city, and letting the 21st century viewer see what’s changed, and what hasn’t.

Below, we have an old film of Budapest (from the Hungarian National Film Archive) with an added treat: it’s colorized. The 1916 clip, which has been making its way around social media as of late, features shots of the grand Parliament, Fisherman’s Bastian, and a wonderfully chaotic Oktogon junction, where trams seem to be running off the tracks, and there’s not a traffic light to be seen.

The biggest surprise here is actually to discover how little the cityscape has changed. Much of the 100-plus year old scenery is now as it was then. Though World Wars One and Two decimated parts of the city, it’s hard to tell from this footage. The first bridge you see: Margit Bridge, would be destroyed twice, and rebuilt, at least once with material recovered from the bottom of the Danube. The second bridge: the Chain Bridge, would also be destroyed in WWII, but rebuilt soon-thereafter.

The video gives a whole new — or old — slant to film production in Budapest. So enjoy this little TikTok from the days of yore, which confirms the adage: the more things change, the more they stay the same.

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