Gagra: from the wharf, between 1905 and 1915. Boathouse and mast by the shore of the Black Sea. The town of Gagra is situated at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains. Its subtropical climate made Gagra (in modern Abkhazia/Georgia) a popular health resort in Imperial Russian and Soviet times. Russian chemist and photographer Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky (1863-1944) was a pioneer in colour photography which he used to document early 20th-century Russia and her empire, including the vanishing way of life of tribal peoples along the Silk Route in Central Asia. In a railway-carriage darkroom provided by Czar Nicholas II, Prokudin-Gorsky used the three-colour photography process to record traditional costumes and occupations, churches and mosques - many now Unesco World Heritage sites - as well as modernisation in agriculture, industry and transport.