Sergei Prokudin Gorskiy: Views in Central Asia, Russian Empire, photographic print

Photographic survey of Central Asia, primarily in and around Samarkand (Samarqand), Bukhara (Bukhoro), and Golodnaia Steppe (Betpak-Dala). Many views show vernacular architecture, madrasahs, mosques, minarets, and mosaics (including Bibi-Khanum, Bogoeddin, Gur-Emir, Passage of the Dead, Shakh-i Zindeh, Shir-Dar, the Registan, Tillia-Kari, the tomb of Baian-Kuli-Khan, and Uluk-Bek). Images also document bridges, canals, and dams. Includes landscapes of Zaravshan valley and mountain ridge (taken from Chapan-Ata), rivers, and apricot flowers and trees. Also includes a single image of an indigenous form of polo (Baiga) being played on a hillside, and a single image of a group of people in the Tian-Shan (Tien Shan) mountains, above the Saliuktin mines, observing a solar eclipse on January 1, 1907. Portraits show local inhabitants, often identified by ethnicity (Sarts, Jews, Kirghiz) or occupation (melon vendor, fabric merchant, native police, water carrier, flatbread vendor, mullah, shepherd). One portrait shows the Emir of Bukhara.

Hand-written Russian captions accompany most prints.
Digitized images of items and album pages display with their associated catalog records in the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog.
Forms part of: Sergeĭ Mikhaĭlovich Prokudin-Gorskiĭ collection.