S. M. Prokudin-Gorsky: The Splendors of Russia in Natural Color 1905–1916

Exhibition of Šechtl & Voseček Museum of Photography February–May 2006

 

Церковь Воскресения на дебрях (с другой стороны).

Another view of the Church of the Resurrection in the Grove.


Once, so the story goes, a small barrel of gold pieces was found in a shipment of dyes sent from England to the firm of the merchant Kiril Isakov. A letter was duly despatched appraising the London company of the discovery. The answer was: "Use the gold for good works". And so in 1652 Kiril Isakov built this lovely church.

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, , LC-DIG-ppmsc-03975. Digital color rendering by Walter Frankhauser.


Вход в церковь Воскресенья. Кострома.

Entrance to the Church of the Resurrection in the Grove.


Russian churches featured exterior and interior decoration in the forms of mosaics, frescoes, and carvings, often in brilliant colors. The Church of the Resurrection in Kostroma in the northern part of European Russia was built in the 1650s and demonstrates the exuberant decoration of the exterior characteristic of its period. However, in spite of the dramatic exterior, the church is noted primarily for its interior wall paintings.

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, , LC-DIG-ppmsc-03974. Digital color rendering by Walter Frankhauser.


Собор Рождества Пресвятой Богородицы в Ипатьевском монастыре (зимний)

Cathedral of the Nativity of the Holy Mother of God in Monastery of St. Hypatius (for wintertime services).


Founded around 1330, the Trinity-Ipaťev Monastery in the old Russian Volga River city of Kostroma, northeast of Moscow, contained within its walls several old churches, including the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin shown here. Originally constructed in the sixteenth century, the church was demolished in the early Soviet period.

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, , LC-DIG-ppmsc-04444. Digital color rendering by Walter Frankhauser.


Башкир у своего дома.

Bashkir by his house.


Bashkirs particularly inhabit the slopes and confines of the southern Ural Mountains. They speak the Bashkir language. 400,000 bashkirs speak Tatar language, most speak also Russian. Until the arrival of the Mongols in the middle of the 13th century, the Bashkirs formed a strong and independent people, troublesome to their neighbors. In 1556 they voluntarily recognized the supremacy of Russia, which in consequence founded the city of Ufa in 1574 to defend them from the Kirghiz, and subjected the Bashkirs to a fur-tax.

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, , LC-DIG-prokc-20661. Digital color rendering by Jan Hubička based on color composite by Blaise Agüera y Arcas.

Башкирка в национальном костюме.

Bashkir woman dressed in national costume.


Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, , LC-DIG-ppmsc-03964. Digital color rendering by Walter Frankhauser.


Изразцовая печь в Княжьем тереме.

Tiled stove in the Princes' Chambers.


This photograph of the interior of the Princes' Palace shows a ceramic tile heating stove surrounded by brightly painted furnishings and walls with decorative frescoes. The palace was built in the fifteenth century in Rostov the Great, an old Russian town northeast of Moscow.

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, , LC-DIG-ppmsc-03943. Digital color rendering by Walter Frankhauser.


Воскресенский женский монастырь с правого берега р. Тверцы. г. Торжок.

Convent of the Resurrection from the right bank of the Tvertsa River. The town of Torzhok.


Torzhok is a town in the Tver Oblast in Russia, most famous for its folk craft of goldwork embroidery

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, , LC-DIG-ppmsc-03985. Digital color rendering by Walter Frankhauser.


Вид на монастырь от Светлицы.

View of the monastery from Svetlitsa.


The Monastery of St. Nil' on Stolobnyi Island in Lake Seliger, illustrates the fate of Russian church institutions. St. Nil established a small monastic settlement around 1528. In the early 1600s his disciples built one of the largest, wealthiest, monasteries in the Empire. The monastery was closed in 1927, and the structure was used for various purposes, including a concentration camp and orphanage. In 1990 the property was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, , LC-DIG-ppmsc-03973. Digital color rendering by Walter Frankhauser.


Общий вид собора с ю.-з.

General view of the Cathedral of St. Nicholas from the southwest.


A dirt road leads to the brightly painted Cathedral of St. Nicholas (built 1802–1814) amid modest residential structures in Mozhaisk, west of Moscow.

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, , LC-DIG-ppmsc-04438. Digital color rendering by Walter Frankhauser.


Бетонировка флютбета плотины.

Laying concrete for a sluice dam.


Workers and supervisors pause for a photograph amid preparations for pouring cement foundations for a sluice dam across the Oka River (1)) southeast of Moscow, near the small town of Dedinovo (2).

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, , LC-DIG-ppmsc-04448. Digital color rendering by Walter Frankhauser.


Вид на г. Тобольск с севера с колокольни Преображенской церкви.

View of Toboľsk from the north, from the bell tower of the Church of Transfiguration.


From the time of its founding in 1587 until the late 1800s, Toboľsk was one of the largest and most important cities in Siberia. For several centuries Toboľsk served as the military, administrative, and political center of Russian rule in Siberia. This panoramic view shows the Irtysh River in the foreground and the broad, flat Siberian plain beyond the central part of the city.

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, , LC-DIG-ppmsc-04447. Digital color rendering by Walter Frankhauser.


Способ хранения сена. Ст. Вязовая.

Method of hay storing. The station of Vyazovaya.


In the settlement of Viazovaia, along the Trans-Siberian mainline in the Ural Mountain region, wooden storage facilities for hay and food crops are photographed against the background of a dense pine forest.

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, , LC-DIG-ppmsc-04426. Digital color rendering by Walter Frankhauser.


Собор в г. Шадринске (150 лет).

Cathedral in Shadrinsk (150 years old [now 244 years]).


Shadrink (2) is a city on river Iset on Trans-Siberian Railway (1), 230 km southeast from Ekaterinburg.

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, , LC-DIG-ppmsc-04660. Digital color rendering by Walter Frankhauser.


Общий вид северной части с колокольни Успенского собора. г. Смоленск.

General view of the northern part from the bell tower of the Assumption Cathedral. City of Smolensk.


Smolensk is a city located on the Dnieper River. This walled city was destroyed several times throughout its history. It was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. The photograph shows city before the Battle of Smolensk (1941) when over 93% of the city was destroyed. The ancient icon was lost forever.

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, , LC-DIG-prokc-20408. Digital color rendering by Jan Hubička based on color composite by Blaise Agüera y Arcas.

Чудотворная икона Божьей Матери-Одигитрии в Богоматеринском храме.

Miraculous icon of Mother of God-Odigitria in the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin.


This photograph of the interior of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Smolensk shows the icon screen that in an Orthodox church separates the altar area from the congregation. At the right is a special shrine for the miracle-working icon known as “Odigitria,”

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, , LC-DIG-ppmsc-03982. Digital color rendering by Walter Frankhauser.


Лесопилка.

Sawmill. Oka River


Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, , LC-DIG-prokc-21459. Digital color rendering by Jan Hubička based on color composite by Blaise Agüera y Arcas.