Photo in studying the urban space of the Volga city in the late XIX - early XX century (based on materials from Astrakhan)

The author explores the possibilities of reconstruction of the Russian city (on materials from Astrakhan) of the late XIX - early XX century based on access to photo documents. Using visual sources, she reveals the characteristics of the city as an integral economic, cultural, infrastructural, and everyday life space of society. The article contains an analysis of the approaches to the characterization of Astrakhan as a city with a certain social and confessional composition of the population, the possibilities of cultural and leisure practices, and the diversity of economic activity.