Eduard Spelterini, aerial photographer 100 years before Google Earth

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Zurich, district 5 Schweizerische Landesbibliothek Bern

St Gallen, old town Schweizerische Landesbibliothek Bern

Andermatt, Canton Uri, to the right of the Oberalp pass Schweizerische Landesbibliothek Bern

Johannesburg Schweizerische Landesbibliothek Bern

Cairo Schweizerische Landesbibliothek Bern

The pyramids of Giza, Egypt Schweizerische Landesbibliothek Bern

Cairo, City of the Dead Schweizerische Landesbibliothek Bern

Basel, the River Rhine, and the Wettstein, Middle and Johanniter bridges Schweizerische Landesbibliothek Bern

Copenhagen, Tivoli amusement park Schweizerische Landesbibliothek Bern

Geneva, with the university on the right in front and Saint-Pierre Cathedral in the back Schweizerische Landesbibliothek Bern

Transvaal, South Africa Schweizerische Landesbibliothek Bern

Interlaken, Höhenmatte, and on the right the Grand Hotel Victoria-Jungfrau Schweizerische Landesbibliothek Bern

Zurich Schweizerische Landesbibliothek Bern

Murren, canton Bern, and on the right the Lauterbrunnen valley Schweizerische Landesbibliothek Bern

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He was an adventurer, a flight pioneer, a gifted photographer: Eduard Spelterini (1852-1931) earned worldwide renown for his risky crossings of the Alps.

Born in canton St Gallen to the name Eduard Schweizer, he took balloon flights over Switzerland and many other countries between 1890 and 1910. While high up in the air, he produced bird’s-eye-view photographs, which were extremely unusual at the time. There were spectacular mountain views and portraits of cities from Zurich to Cairo. As well as black-and-white photos, he produced colourised images. 

The linguistically gifted artist – who spoke fluent German, French, Italian and English – presented his photos in countless lectures throughout Europe, with great success.

Wikimedia Commons contains 120 of these photos, digitised from glass plates. The photos are part of the collection belonging to the Swiss National Library.  

(Text: Gaby Ochsenbein, swissinfo.ch)