Charles Lansiaux (1855–1939) became a photographer at the end of the 19th century. He established his own business in 1903, describing his company purpose as “Artistic and industrial photography, city works, emergency works, interior photography with artificial light, enlargements, amateur documentary photography.”
At the beginning of the war in 1914, he started documenting daily life in Paris, far from the frontline. The resulting series of over 1000 images, titled “Aspects of Paris during the war of 1914” was not initially intended for publication but to be preserved as a testimony of what had happened. The Paris Historical library purchased the images as they were taken.
Here’s a gallery of 86 astonishing photographs capture everyday life in Paris from 1914-1919:
1914. A shop of the Maggi Swiss dairy company looted because suspected of selling poisoned milk, rue de la Tombe-Issoire. |
1914. Crowd in front of the headquarters of the newspaper “Le Matin”, boulevard Poissonnière. |
1914. Sign explaining that the owner of this shop has his two sons mobilized. |
1914. Arab refugees in the area of Gare de Lyon. |
1914. Belarusian refugees in the Paris circus. |
1914. Military cars in the Grand Palace. |
1914. Eastern Railway Station of Paris. |
1914. Hospital in the arena. |
1914. Train in a Paris station. |
1914. Gare de Lyon. |
1914. Wounded soldiers at the Trocadero. |
1914. Registration of Belgian refugees in the Paris circus. |
1914. Grands Boulevards. The great Viennese Café took on the appearance of an advertising agency. |
1914 Avenue du Maine. After two months of war, grocers put up banners in front of the store to show that things are going well. |
1914. The Grand Palais. The kitchens were installed under the colonnade. |
1914. The Grand Palais. An interesting place to set the gun. |
1914. Young girls and women collecting money for casualties at a metro entrance. |
1914. Announcement on the Rue Radziwill. |
1914. North Station. Library at the military canteen. |
1914. North Station. Hospital ward. |
1914. North Station. The Red Cross collecting donations. |
1914. North Station. Temporary infirmary nurses. |
1914. North Station. Dining room arranged for wounded soldiers. Director. |
1914. Gare Montparnasse. Ladies handed gifts to the wounded soldiers. |
1914. North Station. Room for luggage turned into a hospital ward. |
1914. Hawker sells cloth opposite the Opera. |
1914. Handmade workshop, established through the generosity of the Duchess of Talleyrand in the galleries of the Trocadero. |
1914. The Grand Palais, which became a hospital for wounded soldiers. |
1914. Rue Laseped. |
1914. Refugees at the North Station. |
1915. The transfer of the ashes of Rouget de Lisle in Les Invalides. |
1915. Statement of Oedipus the King in the courtyard of the Sorbonne. |
1915. Esplanade des Invalides. Mobilized Englishwoman. |
1915. East Station. |
1915. Champs Elysees. |
1915. Champs Elysees. |
1915. Ambulance. Arrival seriously injured. |
1915. Serbian wounded soldier. |
1915. Man selling newspapers on the street because of the impaired securities on the stock exchange. |
1915. An award ceremony in the courtyard of Les Invalides. A legless soldier on a stretcher. |
1915. An award ceremony in the courtyard of Les Invalides. |
1915. An award ceremony in the courtyard of Les Invalides. |
1915. An award ceremony in the courtyard of Les Invalides. A wounded soldier, surrounded by his comrades. |
1915. An award ceremony in the courtyard of Les Invalides. A wounded soldier on a stretcher. |
1915. An award ceremony in the courtyard of Les Invalides. Those who already awarded. |
1915. |
1915. Esplanade des Invalides. The award ceremony. |
1915 Esplanade des Invalides. President appears at an event. |
1916. At the ceremony, the memory of Italian soldiers who died in the Madeleine Church. |
1916. General Auguste-Ivan-Edmond, the military governor of Paris. |
1916. Haxo Street. The damage caused by the bombs of the German airships. |
1917. The arrival of refugees from the suburbs to the East Station. |
1918. The devastation in the Saint-Paul. |
1918. Shelter in the house No.10 on the Rue Bashomon. |
1918. Protection of monuments during the war. Porte Saint-Denis. |
1918. Albert I of Belgium. |
1918. |
1918. |
1918. Protection of monuments of Paris during the war. Sandbags protecting the portals of Notre-Dame de Paris. |
1918. Protection of monuments of Paris during the war. |
1918. Protection of monuments of Paris during the war. Versailles. |
1918. Protection of monuments of Paris during the war. Versailles. |
1918. Protection of monuments of Paris during the war. Sandbags protect the triumphal arch on Karruzel area. View toward the Jardin des Tuileries. |
1918. Store Van Cleef & Arpels, 22. Place Vendôme. |
1918. Armistice Day. |
1918. Armistice Day. |
1918. Armistice Day. |
1918. Armistice Day. |
1918. Armistice Day. |
1918. Rue Jean-Robert. |
1918. Balloons in the Tuileries Gardens. |
1918. Visit of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. |
1918. Visit of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. |
1918. The building at the corner of Danton and the Place Saint-André-des-Aryu. |
1918. Place de la Concorde. German airship and “sausage”. |
1919. Cenotaph erected in memory of those who were killed in the Great War near the Arc de Triomphe. |
1919. Rue de la Tour des Dames. |
1919. Rue de la Tour des Dames. |
1919. Cenotaph erected in memory of those who were killed in the Great War near the Arc de Triomphe. |
1919. Parade of July 14. American colonies. |
1919. Parade of July 14. US soldiers. Champs Elysees, Place Charles de Gaulle. |
1919. Parade of July 14. British cavalry. Champs Elysees, Place Charles de Gaulle. |
1919. Parade of July 14. Orchestra of the US Marines. Champs Elysees, Place Charles de Gaulle. |
1919. Parade of July 14. Decorated La Madeleine. |
1919. Parade of July 14. Scottish soldiers. Champs Elysees, Place Charles de Gaulle. |
1919. Area of the Palais Royal. |