Large-scale exhibitions were extremely popular in Russia and Europe. As early as 1987,
Governor General of Turkestan von Kaufman adopted the Russian Ethnographic Exposition’s motto as his own
for the administration of Turkestan, “The study of our native land [is] a necessity for every native Russian.” 

Kaufman and his ‘scientist’ corps contributed enormously to the Central Asian materials shown in the
Moscow All-Russian Polytechnical Exhibition of 1872. The Turkestan section of the exhibition included
several thousand displays with detailed catalog entries describing flora, fauna, metallurgical resources,
medicines, crafts of all kinds. It even contained model shops and house interiors peopled by costumed
mannequinsMajor exhibitions that featured collections of materials from Central Asia and may also have
included photographs include the Turkestan Departments of the All-Russian Manufactures Exhibition of 1870,
the Moscow All-Russian Polytechnical Exhibition of 1872, the Universal Exhibition of 1872 in Vienna,
the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1900, and the 1904 International Exposition in St. Louis in the United States.
The photographs below include primitive displays of crafts and elaborate national exhibits at international fairs.