Tea Room. Samarkand

1905
This scene from Samarkand (Uzbekistan) shows a chaikhana (house of tea, in Persian), a type of café where men gathered to drink green tea, talk, and partake of local food such as flat bread, rice plov (pilaf), and mutton shashlik. The chaikhana also provided some relief from the heat of the day. The four turbaned men in this view wear brightly patterned quilted robes and are seated on a low platform with their shoes neatly arranged at the bottom. To the right is the gnarled trunk of a plane tree. 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. Turkestan appealed to him not only for its Islamic architecture but also for scenes from traditional life in cities such as Samarkand.

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Filename: 5818.jpg
Copyright: acku Afghanistan
Image Size: 1800x1619 / 547.0KB; 1905 Uzbekistan Samarqand Samarkand Tea Room Uzbeks Chaikhana Plane Trees Men Photo WDL 010476
Contained in galleries: UZBEKISTAN

1905<br />
This scene from Samarkand (Uzbekistan) shows a chaikhana (house of tea, in Persian), a type of café where men gathered to drink green tea, talk, and partake of local food such as flat bread, rice plov (pilaf), and mutton shashlik. The chaikhana also provided some relief from the heat of the day. The four turbaned men in this view wear brightly patterned quilted robes and are seated on a low platform with their shoes neatly arranged at the bottom. To the right is the gnarled trunk of a plane tree. 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. Turkestan appealed to him not only for its Islamic architecture but also for scenes from traditional life in cities such as Samarkand.