Orthodox Church, Harbin

The Russian Orthodox Church of St Sophia in Harbin, China was built in 1907 to serve the Russian soldiers who came to the town after the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. By 1921 a third of the city's inhabitants were of Russian descent. After its closure in 1949 during the civil war the building was left to ruin until it was refurbished in 1996 and declared a national cultural monument. The city's architectural museum was opened in the building in the following year.

Orthodox Church in Harbin, colour photograph (autochrome process), ca. 1913, photographer: Stéphane Passet; source: Collection Archives de la Planète – Musée Albert-Kahn/Département des Hauts-de-Seine, Inv. Nr.: A 5457, public domain.