Rare! 1894, Ottoman, K. E. Cacoulis, Trabzon, Greek Kakoulidis Family, Original Photo

Description

Original and Rare

Photo of a Kakoulidis Family member

Photographer: K. E. Cacoulis

Trabzon Türkiye (Ottoman Empire)

Dated. 1894

16,3cm x 10,5cm

Very Rare!

K.E.Cacoulis (Greek) – Trebizonde (Trabzon) Photographie Mer Noir back in Greek “Trapezunt”

The first photo studio in Trabzon was opened in Semercibaşi street by a foreigner named Armakof, who allegedly was of Russian origin. It is stated by a local historian that the studio was in use in 1868. Later, members of the Christian community living in Trabzon, the Cacoulis Brothers and Hatchik Tcholakian opened their studios. The exact date  of the studios’ opening is unknown. However, it’s clear from the dates on the back of the photographs that they were in use between the 1880s and 1920s. The Cacoulis Brothers, were officially commisioned in 1890 to prepare “The Album of Abdulhamit” consisting the photographs of then most important cities. The file, the Cacoulis Brothers had prepared, included 57 photographs of the most important buildings, streets and squares in the city. In Trabzon, there was no non-Muslim photographer left after the declaration of the Republic. As from the early 1920s, photographers of military origin, either retired or discharged from army, opened their photo studios one after another.