This photograph of an abandoned walled structure in the environs of the ancient city of Khodzhent (Khujand, in Tajik) comes from Turkestan Album, one of the richest sources of visual information on the cultural monuments of Central Asia as they appeared in the 19th century. This multi-volume edition was produced in 1871-72 under the patronage of Konstantin P. von Kaufman, a Russian army general and the empire's first governor-general of Turkestan. Kaufman held that position from 1867 to 1886, during which time he played a major role in establishing Russia's dominant position in Central Asia. The forces of conquest were followed by administrators and entrepreneurs, as well as scholars interested in documenting the region's remarkable Islamic cultural heritage. The primary photographic compilers for the Turkestan Album were Aleksandr L. Kun (1840-88), an orientalist attached to the army, and Nikolai V. Bogaevskii (1843-1912), a military engineer. Their scrupulous visual record of historic structures, many in states of extreme disrepair, is all the more valuable for having been made shortly after the Russian conquest. Khodzhent, whose origins have been attributed to Alexander the Great, was part of the Khanate of Kokand and is located near the Syr Darya River.