35 Rare Color Photos Of The Russian Empire 100 Years Ago

And while the games continue amid rumors of corruption and a bizarre opening ceremony, we thought we'd take a look back at what Russia was like 100 years ago.

These early color pictures of Russia were taken by photographer Sergei Mikhailovish Prokudin-Gorskii. The Russian master left behind over 2,600 of his amazing photographs of the Russian Empire between 1909 and 1915.

The Prokudin-Gorskii Collection at the Library of Congress shows the ethnographic and geographic diversity of the vast Russian Empire through images of people, religious architecture, pastoral views, and transportation and agricultural workers.

He made numerous photographic trips throughout his lifetime, traveling thousands of miles across the expansive Russian Empire. The resulting "near true color" images are his incredible legacy.