I acquired these color slides back in 2007 and just now started scanning them. I have no information on the photographer or the previous owner of the images. Obviously this is a group of american tourists on a tour. The counties are many: Jordan, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India, Nepal etc. All the slides have original notes written in the blue ball pen; I put them under the pictures along with my comments. The quality of the images is amazing. Some of the images can be blown up to see very fine detail; the image above is actually a central part of a bigger image (see below). Ok, let's start with Afghanistan.
1. View of Kabul
Original caption: "Distant view of Kabul"
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2. King Babur's tomb
Original caption: "Kabul, Afghanistan -- Tiger's Tomb. He was grandson of Timberlain"
Actually this is King Babur's tomb and he is descendant of both Timur (AKA Tamerlane) and Genghis Khan. -- E.S.
3. American Embassy in Kabul
Original caption:"Kabul, Afghanistan -- American Embassy"
4.Market in Kabul
Original caption:"Kabul, Afghanistan -- Sheep at Camel market"
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5. "Volga" in Bamyan
Original caption:"Afghanistan -- Broken Down Bridge near Bamyan"
The car is Soviet-made GAZ-21 "Volga". One of 3-4 soviet car models I remember from my childhood -- not because my memory failing me, but because there were just 3-4 models: compact ("Moskvitch", we had one), mid-size (the one below) and full-size "ZIM" -- E.S.
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Original Caption:"Afghanistan, Near Bamyan. Natives who helped push car"
Original caption:"Afghanistan, near Bamyan. Car has hard time climbing"
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Original caption: "Afghanistan, Near Bamyan. Mountain stream"
The ability to withstand the enlargement is incredible on some of these slides:
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6.Buddhas of Bamyan
I remeber these buddhas very well; they were all over the news when Taliban blown them up in 2001. See more in Wikipedia >>Buddas of Bamyan -- E.S.
7.Shahr-i-Gholghola
Original caption:"Bamyan, Afganistan -- Silent City (Used to be Noisy City). 5000 People killed by Genghis Khan"This is ruins of the city ruled by Shansabani dynasty and destroyed by Genghis Khan in 1222. Its name, Shahr-i-Gholghola, “City of Noise”, refers to the final massacre during which the conqueror fulfilled a vow to kill every man, woman and child, every animal and plant in the valley of Bamyan in revenge to the death of his beloved grandson under the walls of the citadel. Bamyan valley never fully recovered from this disaster -- E.S.
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8. Shahr-i-Zohak AKA Red City
Original caption:"Afghanistan, Near Bamiyan. Fortification destroyed in 1222 by Genghis Khan"
see more on Shahr-i-Zohak AKA Red City in this blog -- E.S.
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To complement these two images/stories, here is mine: I spent most of my life in one of the former Tatar enclaves inside Russia (Kazan, Tatastan). Tatars is the Mongolian tribe which conquered Russia, led by the descendants of Genghis Khan. Tatarstan was the northernmost province in the great Golden Horde khanate they created from all the conquered states. My mother is Tartar and I spoke Tartar when I was a little boy. Here is the view from my former house there:
The Kazan kremlin ("kremlin" means fortress) is in the background. Russians seized it in 1552 and (surprise!) killed all Tartars. The other side of the same story.
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Wonderful post, Emir. The woman in #5 is holding some serious-looking camera. This 6x6 shots show a good lens and technique, although many lens will be very sharp stopped down for this sunny environment.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed that Volga - never saw one in the flesh but read about it in old CCCP magazines, which my family received when I was a child.
Thanks Jolio.
ReplyDeleteThere is a slight amount of purple fringing noticeable in the shots, otherwise they are perfect. Rolleiflex I would guess?
soo nice,
ReplyDeletegoing down the memorian history of the country caled afghnaistan