13.11.2009Historic Photographs of the Orient 1864-1970With Camel
and CameraFor decades, a unique collection of historic
photographs of the Orient lay forgotten at the Hamburg Museum of
Ethnology. Now, the stock of 18,000 pictures has been catalogued
and made accessible to the public in the form of an exhibition.
Nimet Seker reports Unique and rare glimpse into the world of
Kazakh nomads around 1900: on his 1899 scientific expedition
Samuil Martinovič Dudin (1863–1929) travelled Kazakhstan,
Russia, China and Mongolia A huge store of historic photographs
from the Islamic world accumulated at the Hamburg Museum of
Ethnology over generations, and although it is difficult to
believe, for decades, it was entirely disregarded by museum
staff. It wasn't until 2004 that a group of scientists – with
the support of the ZEIT Foundation Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius –
began the process of categorizing, digitalizing and
reconditioning the collection of 18,000 photographs. This was a
detailed and scholarly undertaking lasting a