"I do not pretend to be an artist, I am a man of science." This is what one of the pioneers of Russian color photography, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky, said about himself. In 1906-07, he made several trips to Central Asia and took many color photographs of Samarkand, Bukhara and other cities and villages in the region. Thus, he was the first to capture Uzbekistan in color. These pictures, unique in their historical significance, show him as an outstanding landscape and portrait painter. This volume makes the first detailed study of the life and work of Prokudin-Gorsky on the basis of most recent data. It specifies many facts from the biography of the famous photographer. In general, the book-album has become a unique story telling about the history and culture of Uzbekistan. Ivan Svechin, the grandson of S. M. Prokudin–Gorsky, who lives in France, addresses the reader with a welcoming speech on the first pages of the publication.