The Exit from the Opera in the Year 2000
1902
Albert Robida’s 1902 illustration imagines Paris in the year 2000 as a chaotic, sky-high traffic jam of fish-shaped airships and torpedo-like flying cars. Dressed in their finest top hats and frilly gowns, wealthy opera-goers step out onto floating platforms and airborne restaurants, completely ignoring the Eiffel Tower in the distance. Robida was a French visionary who predicted everything from video calls to aerial warfare decades before they became reality. It’s a hilarious and wildly optimistic glimpse into a steampunk-style future that never quite happened, but looks like a whole lot of fun.
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