90 years of photos to browse

The photographs begin in 1900 and show history unfolding through to 1990. They mainly document Hungary, beginning with as it was in pre-Trianon times, with plenty of excursions to surrounding places such as Venice, Monaco, Milan, Regensburg, London, Rome, Berlin and Poznan, to name only a few. Here are seen landmarks, landscapes, lovers, weddings, sport, agriculture, architecture, aircraft and other forms of transport, holidaymakers, peasants, war and much more.

This absorbing website came into being in 2010 thanks to founders Ákos Szepessy and Miklós Tamási. At first the idea was to show photographs taken randomly in the streets of Budapest. Since then the archive has grown thanks to donations that have been made by families and by both amateur and professional photographers, plus contributions from public collections.

The ever-growing number of images on the website are selected by editors, and the descriptions attached to them are compiled and edited by volunteers, utilising information contributed at the Fortepan Forum. If you think you have worthwhile photographs and negatives to include, contact the team at email fortepan@gmail.com.

Fortepan’s collaborators are Ildikó Bozóky, Richárd Gazdik, Károly Négyesi, Pál Négyesi, Tamás Németh, Zsolt Pálinkás, Gábor Péter, Dávid Sándor, Gyula Simon, Miklós Tamási, András Török, János Varga, János F. Varga and László Gál.

Their efforts are supported by Arcanum, Blinken OSA Archivum, Archive of Modern Conflict (Toronto) and Forum Hungaricum Nonprofit Kft. Administrative management is provided by Summa Artium Nonprofit Kft.