Who living in Berlin isn’t fascinated by the city’s past?

With events such as the Berlin Wall still having an impact on the character of our city today, we constantly come into contact with reminders of the past during our day-to-day lives.

Whether it’s the bump you feel as your cycle over the Mauerweg cobblestones or the overwhelming sense of being really small you get as you follow Stalin’s Karl Marx Allee, Berlin is a living museum.

Over the course of two days this summer, landscape photographer David Köster toured the city photographing well-known locations. With careful editing, he has superimposed older images of Berlin over his photos to create striking comparison shots of the city.

Some things never change. Others really do.

Historisches Berlin is an interactive tool which allows you to see the full collection of David’s photos. Click ‘Endecken’ on the tool below to see life how life now compares to different periods of Berlin’s turbulent history. By clicking Gegenwart/Vergangenheit, you can flit between past and present.

What does his work reveal? For me, I’m pleased to see much of the Berlin I know and love existed way before I moved here. For a city that seems in a constant state of flux, that’s something to take comfort in.

It’s a great set of images, and you don’t need contact lenses to see that.