Almost one hundred years ago, Russia was a very different country. An enormous empire spreading across Asia to northern Europe, it was home to different nationalities, tribes, and rulers.
When the revolutions in 1917 dismantled the Tsarist autocracy and established communism in Europe, many were forced to leave their country in order to escape the regime.
One of them was a renowned Russian photographer Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky (1863–1944), who years earlier became famous thanks to his color portrait of Leo Tolstoy. The photo was noticed by Tsar Nicholas II., who sent Prokudin-Gorsky on the trip of his life.
Lithograph print of photograph Leo Tolstoy by Prokudin-Gorsky, 1908, the first color photo portrait in Russia. Public domain
Prokudin-Gorsky went on to capture the whole length of the Russian Empire in color.
Spinning yarn in the village of Izvedovo in 1910. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Greek workers harvesting tea from plants near Chakva, on the east coast of the Black Sea, between 1907 and 1915. This region of the Russian Empire was located in present day Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia, and had a significant Greek minority. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
A girl with strawberries, Russian Empire in 1909. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Monks planting potatoes on the property of the Gethsemane Monastery in 1910. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
The Emir of Bukhara, Alim Khan, in a portrait from 1911, shortly after his accession. After the Soviets were established in Bukhara (present day Uzbekistan) in 1920, the Emir was forced to flee to Afghanistan where he died in 1944. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Family mining operation in the Bakaly hills, outside the city of Ekaterinburg, in 1910. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Ekaterinin Spring in the resort town once called Borzhom, between 1905 and 1915. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Melon vendor in Samarkand, between 1905 and 1915. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
A Dagestani, between 1905 and 1915. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Sarts, or settled inhabitants, in Samarkand, between 1905 and 1915. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Dagestani people, between 1905 and 1915. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Jewish boys in traditional dress study with their teacher in Samarkand, in 1911. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
A Bashkir woman in a folk costume in 1910. Bashkira is a part of Orenburg Oblast, close to the border of Kazakhstan. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
A. P. Kalganov with his son and granddaughter in the industrial town of Zlatoust in the Ural Mountain region of Russia, in 1910. The Zlatoust Arms Plant was a major supplier of armaments to the Russian military since the early 1800s. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Catholic Armenian woman in customary dress, between 1905 and 1915. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Photographer Prokudin-Gorskii (far right) with Murman men at northwest Russia in 1915. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
A bureaucrat in Bukhara, between 1905 and 1915. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Prokudin-Gorskii, right front, and others ride the Murmansk Railroad in a handcar along the shores of Lake Onega near Petrozavodsk in 1915. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
A Georgian woman, between 1905 and 1915. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Unidentified prisoner in shackles, between 1905 and 1915. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Pinkhus Karlinskii, 84 years old, the supervisor of the Chernigov floodgate with 66 years in service to the Russian Empire, in 1909. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Ethnic Russian settlers to the Mugan Steppe region at the settlement Grafovka, north of the border with Persia, between 1907 and 1915. Settlement of Russians in non-European parts of the empire was encouraged by the government. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Turkman man with camel loaded with sacks in Central Asia, between 1905 and 1915. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Children near White Lake, in the north of European Russia, 1909. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
A Bashkir switch operator by the main line of the railroad, near the town of Ust-Katav on the Yuryuzan River in the Ural Mountains of European Russia in 1910. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
A fabric merchant in Samarkand, between 1905 and 1915. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Nomadic Kirghiz on the Golodnaia Steppe, between 1905 and 1915. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Peasant girls of the Russian Empire in 1909. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Full-length profile portrait of a woman, possibly Turkman or Kirghiz, on a carpet at the entrance to a yurt, between 1905 and 1915. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
The Ostrechiny, Study, Russian Empire in 1909. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Prison with inmates and guard wearing a Russian uniform, in the Central Asian part of the Russian Empire, between 1905 and 1915. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
An early autumn scene from 1909. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Preparations for pouring concrete foundations for a dam across the Oka River southeast of Moscow, near the small town of Dedinovo, in 1912. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
Photographer himself posing near the Kivach waterfall, Suna River, between 1905 and 1915. Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky/LOC
The larger selection of Prokudin-Gorksy images can be found at the Library of Congress.
