The “Turkestan Album”, containing rare photographs and colour pictures, which are both scientifically and historically valuable, is kept in the rare book fonds of the National Library of Uzbekistan. The “Turkestan Album” consists of historical, archaeological, ethnographic and handicraft sections, studied and popularized by scientists. The album is distinguished by the completeness and originality of the materials taken from national photographs. The most complete picture of the territory of the country was created in the “Turkestan Album.” It was made in 1871-1872 and consists of four parts and ten volumes: “Archaeology”, “Ethnography,” “Crafts” and “History”. The parts of the album on archaeology and ethnography were prepared by orientalist A.L. Kuhn. Agronomist M.I. Brodovsky and botanist 1.1. Krauze prepared craft materials, V.P. Ivanov prepared materials on painting, and Rotmeister M.A. prepared materials on military history. The “Turkestan Album” photos were taken by N.N. Nekhoroshev. The work of creating an album was entrusted to Alexander Ludvigovich Kuhn (1840-1888). The photography was done in the city streets, markets, squares, villages, places where the nomadic population lives, and its surroundings, and the residents helped closely in this work.
The main task of the album was to show clearly the following:
1) ancient monuments preserved in the country (archaeology part);
2) modern life of the population – types, religious views, customs, clothes and residences (ethnographic part);
3) the country’s industry, handicrafts (handicraft part);
4) a portrait of the places where the Russian military operations took place and the people who paved the way to Central Asia (historical part). Currently, a complete form of the “Turkestan Album” is kept in the unique collection of the National Library of Uzbekistan named after Alisher Navoi.