Armenians of Urfa in traditional costume

The photograph was taken in 1904 in the historic city of Urfa in Western Armenia. Its author is Frère Raphaël de Ninive. It shows members of the Armenian community of Urfa in their distinctive costumes.

In the frame are three men and a small boy, standing on a carpet in front of a studio backdrop. Two of the men wear a fez wrapped in a patterned cloth; the man in the middle and the boy wear a fez. They are dressed in patterned garments, sashes and wide striped trousers, with strings of beads hanging from their necks.

Urfa, or Edessa, was for centuries a powerful centre of Armenian culture, manuscript writing and crafts.