A new book features 80 old black-and-white photos of Paris superimposed on the same scenes today. By insetting historical photographs into contemporary settings, the author, French art director Julien Knez, opens a window to the past, allowing events in the city's history to be integrated into the present day.

Knez found photos of Paris taken between 1871 and 1968, and then photographed the same site from the same angle. He says it's not a question of juxtaposition, but of incrustation. "An event that has left no material, tangible trace recovers a genuine geographical existence, while the city of today becomes literally inhabited by its history – even if this history has not fashioned its shape," he writes. The sights captured in the historic photos include the great flood of 1910, the student protests of 1968 and Adolf Hitler taking a quick tour of the city's main tourist spots in 1940.

IBTimesUK presents a few images from Paris, Fenêtres sur l'Histoire by Julien Knez, published by Parigramme on 24 March 2016, and available from Amazon.