3-007-010 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Bridge beyond the rapids, over the Syr-Darya from the right bank, Golodnaia (or Golodnaya) Steppe, between 1905 and 1915. The Syr Darya, a river in Central Asia, originates in the Tian Shan Mountains and flows for 2,256.25 kilometres through Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan to the northern remnants of the Aral Sea. Russian chemist and photographer Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky (1863-1944) was a pioneer in colour photography which he used to document early 20th-century Russia and her empire, including the vanishing way of life of tribal peoples along the Silk Route in Central Asia. In a railway-carriage darkroom provided by Czar Nicholas II, Prokudin-Gorsky used the three-colour photography process to record traditional costumes and occupations, churches and mosques - many now Unesco World Heritage sites - as well as modernisation in agriculture, industry and transport.