The Russian Empire in color photographs of Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky

These color pictures were taken between 1909 and 1912 years, photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) with the support of Tsar Nicholas II.

He used a special camera that consistently doing three black-and-white picture through red, green and blue filters. This allowed later to reunite them and to design with the help of flashlights with filters to make photos with almost natural colors. Due to the high quality of photos, coupled with bright colors viewers find it hard to believe that these images were made 100 years ago, before the October revolution and even before the First world war.

Armenian woman in national costume posing to photographer on the hillside near Artvin (now belongs to Turkey) in 1910.

Self-portrait at the river Korolistskali, CA. 1910. Prokudin-Gorskii in suit and hat sitting on a rock beside a river in the Caucasus mountains near Batumi, on the Eastern coast of the Black sea.

Kasli masters at work, about 1910. Photo from album: "Types of the Ural mountains, survey of industrial area, Russian Empire".

A woman sits in a peaceful spot on the SIM river, which is part of the Volga basin, in 1910.

Chapel on the site where was founded the city of Belozersk, 1909.

View of Tbilisi from the Church of St. David, in 1910.

Isfandiyar, Jurji Bahadur, Khan of the region Khorezm (Khiva, now a part of modern Uzbekistan), CA. 1910.

A detailed view of Isfandiyar, Jurji Bahadur. This photo was taken at the beginning of his reign in 1910, when he was 39 years old. He ruled Khorezm until his death in 1918.

The young shepherd on the SIM river. The photo was taken in 1910.

Alternators made in Budapest, in the hall of the generating station in Iolotan, Turkmenistan, and the river Murghab, 1910.

A Georgian woman poses for the photographer, 1910.

A group of women in Dagestan, 1910.

General view of Artvin (now in Turkey) from the small town of Svet, 1910.

Pinchus Karlinsky 84, 66 of which he gave service in the army. The controller of the lock gates of Chernigov, which are part of the system of the Mariinsky channels. The photo was taken in 1909.

General view of the Mozhaisk Nicholas Cathedral from the South-Western part of the city in 1911.

A group of Jewish children with a teacher in Samarkand (now Uzbekistan), 1910.

Employee of the TRANS-Siberian railway near Ust-Katav on the Yuryuzan river in 1910.

Cornflowers in a field of rye in 1909.

Masonry cement for sluice dam in 1912. Workers and supervisors pose for a photo, for a moment interrupting his cooking to spills of cement for the Foundation of the gateway of the dam across the Oka river, near Beloomut.

Woman of ethnicity Sarthe in purdah in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, circa 1910. Before the revolution of 1917 the word "sarty" called Uzbeks living in Kazakhstan.

General view of the Marina of the river Mezhevaya Duck in 1912.

Farmers gathering hay, 1909.

Prokudin-Gorskii rides along the rails of the Murmansk railway on the trolley near the Petrozavodsk along lake Onega in 1910.

The water-carrier in Samarkand, about 1910.

The dog is sleeping on the shore of lake Lindozero in 1910.

Plant in Keene, Russia, belonging to count S. A. Stroganov, 1912.

Russian children sitting on the hill near the Church at White lake in 1909.

Emir Said Mir Mohammed Alim Khan, Emir of Bukhara is sitting with a sword in Bukhara (now Uzbekistan) in 1910.

The boy leaned on the gate. The 1910.

Metal bridge with through farm on stone piers, part of the TRANS-Siberian railway crosses the Kama river, near Perm.

Kyrgyz nomads in the Hungry steppe (present-day Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan), circa 1910.

Man and woman pose for a photo in Dagestan, 1910.

The boy sits in the courtyard of the mosque of Tillia-Kari in Samarkand, 1910.