This photograph, taken from the Prokudin-Gorskii collection at the Library of Congress shows the Cathedral of St. Nicholas towering over residential structures in the outskirts of Mozhaisk, an ancient town 68 miles west of Moscow. I chose the photograph because of the striking contrast between the imposing, brightly-colored cathedral and the quaint scene of a … Continue reading Christianity and the Church Before the Revolution
Tag: empire
Alter of Virgin Mary
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•Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii. Miraculous Icon of Mother of God-Odigitria in the Mother of God Church, 1912. Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii was a Russian photographer whose claim to fame was his work with color sensitization and three-color photography that led to him photographing Leo Tolstoy in 1908. His vision for his work was to document the Russian Empire systematically … Continue reading Alter of Virgin Mary
Portrait of Imperial Russia
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•“Melon Vendor” –Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii. We typically do not associate the Russian Empire with images like this one. Taken in 1911 by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, this photograph depicts a man at work as a melon vendor, dressed in the traditional Central Asian attire of a turban and flowing tunic. In the waning days of the … Continue reading Portrait of Imperial Russia →
A Carpenter Tells All
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•In this photograph, taken by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii in 1905, we see a man working as a carpenter in a town known as Samarkand. Samarkand is located in present day Uzbekistan, and was once part of the Russian Empire. Samarkand was likely founded due to its location along the Silk Road. Due to its … Continue reading A Carpenter Tells All →