The Russian State Film & Photo Archive keeps roughly 1.5 million photo documents featuring various events not only from the history of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation but also from the history of the world.

The Archive has a lot to offer about the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War of Liberation, Rimma Moiseeva, Deputy Director of the Archive, says.

„We keep the total of 19 negatives presenting episodes from the Russo-Turkish War. Also, we have eight photo albums released during that period, with the total of 629 photographs.”

Part of the albums originated from the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.

„The events captured in photographs give us an idea about the Russian command – the generals Skobelev, Gurko, Dragomirov and others but also about the soldiers from the time of the Russo-Turkish War in Bulgaria. A special place has been given to armaments and fortifications built by the Russian troops in military operations. We also have pictures dedicated to the construction of railway lines in Bulgaria.”

The photos in the albums of theRussian State Film & Photo Archive recount of the military operations, the crossing of the Danube by the Russian troops, the battles near Nikopol, at Shipka and the last battle for Pleven.

„They give us a fairly good idea about the Russo-Turkish War and the battles waged in Bulgaria”, Rimma Moiseevaexplains and adds, “Apart from these photo documents we have ones related to medical service – the treatment of the injured, the infirmaries. There are very interesting photos featuring the Turkish refugees in Sofia, the capture of the Turkish troops, a group of captured Turks. Other photographs keep the faces of Orthodox Christian priests, public prayer services, the victims of the war, and collecting dead bodies after the fall of Pleven.”

Some photos let viewers learn about the daily round of soldiers – picturing them as they read letters from family members, and have a break between battles. These precious photo documents represent „an integral part of both the Russian and Bulgarian history, because they recount of how Russians and Bulgarians fought side by side”, the Deputy Director of the Russian State Film & Photo Archive Rimma Moiseeva points out.

„These are the kind of events that remain in the memory of people. Our Archive is the keeper of the historical truth about them. The Russo-Turkish War is part of our common history. After all both our peoples are Slavic peoples!”

English Daniela Konstantinova

Photos: courtesy of the Russian State Film & Photo Archive