What Crimea looked like at the turn of the 20th century (PHOTOS)
Over many centuries, the peninsula has absorbed a wide variety of cultures, from Greek and Turkic to Slavic.
Crimean Tatars, Karaites, Bulgarians, Ukrainians, Russians – this is far from a complete list of the ethnic peoples who inhabited Crimea at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. And all their diverse traditions left their mark on the appearance of these places.
"The Crimean Peninsula is a crossroads of sea and land routes, a place where a dialogue of cultures has taken place since ancient times: an exchange of traditions, knowledge and ideas. The main wealth of this land is the unique ensemble of its cultures," says Yulia Kupina, Director of the Russian Museum of Ethnography.
In the museum's new large-scale exhibition, you can see more than 250 artifacts of the traditional culture of the peoples of Crimea. The exposition tells both about the historical roots of the peninsula and about its people, their work, leisure and faith.
View of Mount Ai-Petri from Alupka, 1891-1910
A Crimean Tatar. Late 19th - early 20th century
Dormition Monastery near Bakhchisaray, 1860-1870
A Crimean Gypsy, 1866
A church in Sevastopol, late 19th - early 20th century
A Crimean Jew, 1866
Gurzuf – a coastal town near Yalta, 1880-1889
A Ukrainian, 1877
Presentation of a gift to the Hakham (a Torah scholar) from the Krymchak community, 1899
A Crimean Greek, 1886
Crimean Tatars near a mosque before prayer, 1906
The Juma-Jami Mosque in Yevpatoria, 1913
A Karaite, 1866
Entrance to the Malaya Kenassa (part of the prayer complex of the Crimean Karaites in Yevpatoria), 1913
Small stores in Bakhchisaray, 1905
A group of Crimean Tatars drinking coffee on a street in Simferopol, 1907
A Crimean Tatar water carrier, 1907
The Tatar village of Mezhdurechye (Ai-Serez) near Sudak, 1912
Vendors selling vegetables at a Simferopol market, 1907
A two-wheeled cart being pulled by a pair of oxen, 1907
A shepherd posing with his herd of sheep, 1925
The ‘Peoples of Crimea’ exhibition is on display at the Russian Museum of Ethnography in St. Petersburg until December 31, 2026.
