Chapel in the Settlement of Spassky. Golodnaia Steppe

1905
Among the primary initiators of Russian development projects in Turkestan was Grand Duke Nicholas Konstantinovich (1850–1918), grandson of Tsar Nicholas I, who in 1881 moved to Tashkent. There he sponsored a number of initiatives, including a vast irrigation scheme to make Golodnaia Steppe (“Hungry Steppe,” present-day Uzbekistan) a productive area for raising cotton and wheat. Conditions in the region were harsh, and it was sometimes difficult to attract Russian settlers by providing arable land. Shown here is the primitive structure of an Orthodox chapel at the settlement of Spasskii (Savior) in the Golodnaia Steppe. Built of adobe brick with a metal roof, the Savior Chapel has a crude wooden frame for a single bell. The image is by Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944), who used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire in the early 20th century. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many parts of the empire. In 1911 he traveled to the region of Central Asia then known as Turkestan, where he photographed Islamic architectural monuments as well as Russian development projects.

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Copyright: acku Afghanistan
Image Size: 1800x1642 / 575.4KB; 1905 Kazakhstan Chapel Bells Settlement Spassky Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii Photo WDL 010009
Contained in galleries: KAZAKHSTAN

1905<br />
Among the primary initiators of Russian development projects in Turkestan was Grand Duke Nicholas Konstantinovich (1850–1918), grandson of Tsar Nicholas I, who in 1881 moved to Tashkent. There he sponsored a number of initiatives, including a vast irrigation scheme to make Golodnaia Steppe (“Hungry Steppe,” present-day Uzbekistan) a productive area for raising cotton and wheat. Conditions in the region were harsh, and it was sometimes difficult to attract Russian settlers by providing arable land. Shown here is the primitive structure of an Orthodox chapel at the settlement of Spasskii (Savior) in the Golodnaia Steppe. Built of adobe brick with a metal roof, the Savior Chapel has a crude wooden frame for a single bell. The image is by Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944), who used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire in the early 20th century. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many parts of the empire. In 1911 he traveled to the region of Central Asia then known as Turkestan, where he photographed Islamic architectural monuments as well as Russian development projects.