Stork (Scene in Bukhara)
1905
This photograph shows a large stork’s nest (with stork visible) on the top of the main facade of a madrasah in Bukhara. The view was taken from a back courtyard and includes a damaged ornamental lattice window. The brick wall of the structure shows some decorative traces. After the Russian conquest of Samarkand in 1868, the Emirate of Bukhara remained nominally independent but in fact became a Russian protectorate linked to Russian settlements by the Trans-Caspian Railway. In contrast to Samarkand, where Western influence was much in evidence, in Bukhara the traditional culture and appearance remained relatively intact. 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. Prokudin-Gorskii was particularly interested in recently acquired territories of the Russian Empire such as Turkestan (present-day Uzbekistan and neighboring states), which he visited on a number of occasions, including two trips in 1911. There he photographed not only architectural monuments but also scenes of everyday life.
- Filename
- 5808.jpg
- Copyright
- acku Afghanistan
- Image Size
- 1800x1688 / 403.9KB
- Contained in galleries
- UZBEKISTAN