Hunting for old photographs used to be a hard work with archive browsing, digging in libraries, endless search around attics. It's so much easier today, with all those vast online collections. Still, finding something unseen is always a joy for everyone who loves scenes from the past. I confess I'm one of them, especially when it comes to Split as it used to be. There are many others like me. Facebook group Split in History gathers thousands of enthusiasts.

One of the last jewels I found there is in many ways different that other findings like this. Whenever someone discover an old photo, it's often hard to determine when exactly it was shot, only true experts will be able to give more precise judgment, usually looking buildings on the image. For this one we know everything. It's been taken by English photographer Francis Bedford (1815-1894), and it shows Riva in Split on February 20, 1862. This means Bedford's photo is only four years younger than the oldest known photograph of Split, made in 1858 by Peter Zink. It would be great to browse through Bedford's negatives of that day, but as far as I know, this is the only one saved. To make things more interesting, we can thank that to British royal family.

The then Prince of Wales, future king Edward VII travelled in 1862 around Middle East, from Egypt to Constantinople. He brought Bedford with him, to preserve Prince's journey with that strange newly discovered media. Besides pictures showing him on a trip, His Royal Highness bought out this one from Split, and many others. Ever since, it's been stored in the Royal Collection, which recently became available online.

Today, many things on this photo would look different. The edge of Riva is pretty much the same, but there are palm trees there now, as well as new pavement, new buildings, and some of them are missing. Even the Cathedral's bell tower changed in the meantime, it's even hardly visible from the same spot, because of trees and buildings. To make it easier to compare, here's Google Maps Street View from pretty much the same spot.