Video: Rare footage of the Russian Empire made by the Swede Karl Berggren
2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55
Slides with views of Moscow and other regions of the empire, made by the Swedish soldier Karl Elof Berggren in the 1900-1910s.
Military Karl Elof Berggren served in the Swedish Red Cross mission in the Russian Empire for about 10 years. He was in love with the country, knew Russian perfectly and traveled a lot, discovering and exploring the most secluded corners of the empire. A photography enthusiast, during his travels he created a photo chronicle of the life of Russia in the early 20th century.
The history of Berggren's stay and travels in Russia is full of blank spots. In particular, this applies to the period from 1908 to 1917 - it was then that the military traveled around the country. He crossed the empire by rail from St. Petersburg to the Black Sea, from the Urals to Samarkand and Bukhara. Berggren's grandson recalls: “The more he stayed in the country, the better he wanted to get to know it. This means that he spent much more time in Russia than originally planned."
There is no mention of Russia in the official career of the Swedish military. At the same time, we see that the officer paid close attention to military parades, as well as to bridges and railway stations. It is not known whether Berggren was a career Swedish intelligence officer or simply carried out special orders of his superiors. However, there is no doubt that his transparencies were of deep interest to the Swedish General Staff.
Transparencies - positive photographic paintings on glass - a rare technique of light painting. The technology of their creation was distinguished by the complexity of replication and viewing. However, they were perfect for a "magic lantern" - a projection device with which the image was shown on the screen in an enlarged format.
The plots of the images presented on Berggren's transparencies are extremely varied. Of particular interest are the many colored views of Moscow in the 1900s. Knowledge of Moscow and interest in its antiquities and colorful everyday life suggest that Berggren lived in the city for some time and returned to it many times. The archive contains panoramic footage from the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, views of the Kremlin and the Moskva River, and images of many sights. Accurate shots of architecture coexist with direct pictures of urban life.
Part of Berggren's archive tells about the Crimean sights and has preserved unusual evidence of the life of the Crimean Tatars. An extremely interesting series of transparencies with views of the recently conquered Turkestan region, which also includes images of the inhabitants and ancient buildings of Samarkand and Bukhara. Another group is made up of remarkable views of the Caucasus Mountains, Tiflis and Mtskheta and portraits of local residents. Some transparencies captured the charm of the village and a direct story about the traditions of Russian weddings.
Berggren was extremely interested in the military and various aspects of their life. The spirit of the times between the Russo-Japanese and the First World War is conveyed by the shooting of soldiers on the march in a snow-covered land, at railway stations during the transfer of troops. In Moscow's life, the author is especially interested in military parades and maneuvers on Teatralnaya and Voskresenskaya squares, cavalry squadrons and infantry grenadier units, artillery batteries and imposing palace grenadiers. A small series tells about the life of the Sumy regiment - cavalrymen stationed in Moscow.
With the diligence of an officer and the tenacity of a discoverer, Berggren recorded the cultural, social and political codes of the time, permeated with a decisive optimism of the general mood of the empire and the dynamics of the new century. The paints with which the photographer saturates his pictures, transfer the sighting documentary shooting into the system of artistic coordinates, where those who got into the photographer's lens are forever stuck.
The First World War, revolution, the collapse of the empire, the Civil War, famine and industrialization - this is all later, but for now familiar plots, everyday scenes, architecture, military parades, trade trains. Ordinary events in a photographer's lens are refracted from an unusual perspective, investigated and acquire a color that will not be in photography for a long time.
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