Bord de mer de Lamu through time

Lamu 1912–2014 12 photos of this spot

12 photographs taken at the same spot in Lamu, spanning 1912–2014 — 6 of them from before 1980. Line them up and watch the place change.

Coral-stone buildings and palm trees line a street in Lamu, Kenya, in this 1912 photograph. The Swahili coastal town, with roots as a trading port dating back centuries, retained its characteristic dense architecture largely unchanged into the twentieth century.

EU: bebyggelse, palmträd, hus, fotografi, photograph (1912) 1912 Coral-stone buildings and palm trees line a street in Lamu, Kenya, in this 1912 photograph. The Swahili coastal town, with roots as a trading port dating back centuries, retained its characteristic dense architecture largely unchanged into the twentieth century.

EU: gränd, män, hus, fotografi, photograph (1912) 1912 Men stand in a narrow alley between houses in Lamu, Kenya, in 1912. The old town's tightly packed streets, built for shade and shelter from the coastal climate, remain one of its most distinctive features.

EU: kvinna, gränd, hus, fotografi, photograph (1912) 1912 A woman is pictured in a narrow lane among the houses of Lamu, Kenya, in 1912, illustrating the close-set stone buildings characteristic of this centuries-old Swahili trading town.

EU: Thatched Swahili houses with palm trees, Lamu (1912) 1912 Thatched Swahili houses stand among palm trees in this 1912 photograph of Lamu, the old Kenyan coastal town known for its Swahili architecture and long seafaring history.

EU: Narrow alley with men, Lamu old town (1912) 1912 Men are pictured in a narrow alley of Lamu's old town in 1912, part of the dense network of coral-stone streets characteristic of the historic Swahili settlement.

EU: Woman walking through alley, Lamu old town (1912) 1912 A woman walks through one of Lamu old town's narrow alleys in this 1912 photograph, capturing daily life in the historic Swahili trading settlement on Kenya's coast.

Bord de mer de Lamu 2012 The seafront of Lamu, Kenya, photographed in 2012. Lamu Old Town is the oldest continuously inhabited Swahili settlement in East Africa and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Above view of the town of Lamu 2013 An elevated view over Lamu, Kenya, the oldest continuously inhabited Swahili settlement on the East African coast and a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its coral-stone architecture.

Beach houses in Lamu 2013 Coral-stone houses face the beach at Lamu, Kenya, a Swahili coastal town where narrow, largely car-free streets and traditional architecture have been preserved for centuries.

Lamu in 2013 2013 A street view in Lamu, Kenya, whose old town's dense coral-and-lime buildings reflect centuries of Swahili, Arab, and Indian Ocean trading influences.

Lamu in 2013 2013 Another corner of Lamu's old town on Kenya's coast, a settlement whose traditional Swahili architecture has been continuously inhabited since at least the fourteenth century.

Kenya, Lamu Island, Kipungani 2014 Kipungani, a small Swahili settlement on the southwestern tip of Lamu Island, Kenya, appears in this 2014 photograph. Lamu Island is part of Kenya's UNESCO-listed Lamu Old Town archipelago.