Leon Barszczewski (1849-1910) was an eminent traveller, photographer and researcher of the Orient. After the fall of the January Uprising 1863, he was conscripted to the Russian army. Between 1876 and 1897 he made numerous travels to the regions of Turkmenistan, the khanates of Buchara, Badachstat, Darwan and to the Afghan border, during which he drew maps, studied the transport routes of the borderland between China and Afghanistan and examined the region’s social and political relations.

Under the influence of the painter Nikołaj Osipow, he became passionate about photography and during his travels he rarely parted from his camera. His achievements gained recognition and were awarded with gold medals: in 1895 in Paris for his photographs of Asian glaciers and in 1901 in Warsaw for photographs of villages and portraits of Asians. he lived in Samarkand and stayed in Asia for 20 years. Later, he returned to Poland and settled in Siedlce, where, in 1904, he funded a school for girls.

On the occasion of the centenary of Leon Barszczewski's death, the Tatra Museum presents a large selection of his photographs from the Orient.