Title: Assault and Seige of the Fortified City of Khodzhend from May 17 to 24, 1866: Drawn by the Topographer NCO Filippov

Description

This map of the city of Khodzhent (Khujand, in Tajik) at the time of the Russian siege of May 17-24, 1866, is contained in Turkestan Album, one of the richest sources of visual information on the cultural monuments of Central Asia as they appeared in the 19th century. The 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. This map, from a drawing by a non-commissioned topographer identified only as Fillipov, provides valuable detail on the spatial arrangement of this historic city on the Syr Darya River, including the relation of its citadel to surrounding structures, as well as the wall and gates that enclosed the city. Also depicted in various colors are gardens, vegetable plots, pasturage, and cotton fields.