Russia went $US39 billion over budget in staging this year’s winter Sochi Olympics, making them the most expensive Olympics by far.
And while the games continue amid rumours of corruption and a bizarre opening ceremony, we thought we’d take a look back at what Russia was like 100 years ago.
These early colour pictures of Russia were taken by photographer Sergei Mikhailovish Prokudin-Gorskii. The Russian master left behind over 2,600 of his amazing photographs of the Russian Empire between 1909 and 1915.
The Prokudin-Gorskii Collection at the Library of Congress shows the ethnographic and geographic diversity of the vast Russian Empire through images of people, religious architecture, pastoral views, and transportation and agricultural workers.
He made numerous photographic trips throughout his lifetime, travelling thousands of miles across the expansive Russian Empire. The resulting “near true colour” images are his incredible legacy.
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