The Shah-i Zindah Necropolis, located at the outskirts of Samarkand (present-day Uzbekistan), was built on an ancient burial ground. Shah-i Zindah (Persian for “living king”) is revered as a memorial to Kusam-ibn-Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Mohammad. This richly detailed photograph shows the middle chartak (entrance chamber) leading to the central group of shrines. At the portal are three turbaned pilgrims, of which the middle one has his left arm in a sling. They are kneeling on a carpet, with their shoes in front. Visible beyond the passage are the facades of the Emir Zade (1386) and Shadi-Mulk Aga (1372) mausolea. Although damaged, the facades display remarkable ceramic decoration, including intricate geometric and floral designs as well as patterned Arabic script. The image is by Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944), who used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire in the early 20th century. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire. In 1911 his travels took him to Turkestan, where he devoted special attention to monuments of Islamic architecture.