Albert Kahn was a French-born banker and philanthropist who amassed a collection of color photographs produced in the early 1900’s, when color photography was rare and expensive. He used his fortune to commission individual photographers to travel to more than 50 countries around the world and capture their unique cultures on film. Kahn’s gallery of over 72,000 autochromes remained mostly hidden until recently, when the BBC embarked on an ambitious project to bring them into the public domain. These particular photographs were taken in Mongolia in 1913.
A hunter near Urga
A woman sentenced to starvation death
Badamdorj in vicinity of the Yellow Palace, Urga
Carriage of Stefan Passe between Kykhta and Urga
Lama
Lamas at the Yellow Palace
Married woman in Urga
Outside Urga, the capital city
Mongolian yurtas, large round tents with vertical walls and conical roofs
Street in Urga
Stupas, dome-shaped monuments used to house Buddhist relics, in Urga
Buddhist temple in Urga
Triumphal Gates of the Yellow Palace in Urga
Two Buryat riders in Troitskosavske
Two Cossack soldiers in Urga
Urga
Chief Writing Wolf 