Century old color photographs of the Russian empire

I always thought color photography was a relatively recent invention, perhaps around the first world war. I was amazed to find this digital exhibit on Library of Congress website that shows color photographs that were taken by a photographer to the Tsar (Prokudin-Gorskii), who was also an accomplished chemist. These photos evoke very lively and rich perception of history – the people and places suddenly acquire the details that were not appreciated before. The description of his color camera and how it was put to use are equally fascinating. Subsequent reading of Wikipedia revealed that James Maxwell is the first person in the recorded history to have taken a color photograph.