I have to admit I liked the way you started you’re blog so much that stole the introduction idea! Anyways, I am new to Russian history so I found it very interesting how important this particular waterway was to the Russian society and transporting materials. Nice first blog!

It’s interesting that the monastery was used for basically everything but a monastery during the Soviet era. It really shows how much power the Soviets had in getting rid of the old and implementing the new. As we just discussed in class, Russian Orthodoxy was pretty important to many Russians (at least during the late Imperial period), so I wonder if it was a big deal when the government converted the building for its own purposes.

I found the three color principle technique very interesting too. I had never heard of this method until we looked at it in class, and to be honest, I was surprised we were seeing it first from a Russian and not a Western European or American. However, like you mentioned, Russia was undergoing rapid industrial development at this time, so maybe they were a little more technologically advanced than a lot of people assume.

Never mind! I just saw the citation to Oxford Artonline. Thanks!

I’ve always found the “Melon Vendor” compelling. Thank you for providing us some background on this accomplished photographer! What do we make of the diversity of the people featured in the photographs you selected? What sources did you use to learn about Prokudin-Gorsky’s biography?

What a rich and interesting history the monastery has! The kind of “repurposing” the monastery underwent was common in the Soviet period, with many churches and monasteries serving as prisons, hospitals, storage depots, and even archives. Cities and towns were also renamed — including Tver, where this monastery is located. It became “Kalinin” (after the revolutionary and nominal head of state, Mikhael Kalnin) during the Soviet period.