Antique colours of Georgia still fresh

An exhibition featuring century-old colour images of the Caucasus has opened in Georgia, providing viewers with the opportunity to travel back in time to see their history in full colour.

Taken at the beginning of the 20th century, the photographs are colour images of the people at that time. Besides, they are the first-ever colour photos of Georgia, shot by Russian photographer Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky.

Prokudin-Gorsky was one of the first colour photographers. He invented a special technique by using three separate black-and-white frames taken through blue, green and red filters on a single glass plate.

The Caucasus pictures were taken as part of the “Russian Empire” project directed by Prokudin-Gorsky. Like every other region he documented in colour the daily life of the people, their local clothing and natural scenery.

The exhibition of glass plates, on which the show is based, is a part of a collection of nearly 2000 images by Prokudin-Gorsky purchased by the Library of Congress in 1948.

These images have a special value, a snapshot of the colourful life of the Russian Empire destroyed a few years later by the communist revolution.