Ravensburg in der Zukunft: Edwardian German Future-City Postcard c.1910
0 views
Share:Save

Ravensburg in der Zukunft: Edwardian German Future-City Postcard c.1910

Not tied to a single novel but firmly in the tradition of Albert Robida's prophetic urban visions, this hand-colored German novelty postcard imagines Ravensburg's medieval market square overwhelmed by modernity run amok. Electric trams crowd cobblestones, early automobiles jostle pedestrians, a parachutist descends from the sky, and — most audaciously — a flying tram soars overhead. Chaotic street accidents unfold in the foreground. A wry, satirical retro-futurist snapshot of a small German town dreaming (and dreading) tomorrow.

Category: Postcard
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Era: Edwardian (1901-1914)
Decade: 1910s
Country: Germany
Coolness: 6/10

A flying tram, a parachuting bureaucrat, and a street full of casualties — Ravensburg's future is nobody's utopia. Chaos never looked so charmingly hand-colored.

Text in image:

Ravensburg in der Zukunft

More Postcard