Rare color photos of Hà Đông province in 1915

Rural scenes in Định Công village, the market of Thanh Liệt village, wrestlers in Xa La village... These strikingly vivid color photos of Hà Đông province in 1915 were taken by photographer Léon Busy.

In 1909, French banker Albert Kahn (1860-1940) launched the "Archives of the Planet" project to record images from many different places around the world using autochrome color glass plates - the world's first commercially successful color photography process.

Kahn sent his photographers to more than 50 countries, and they took a total of 72,000 photographs. The person tasked with carrying out the project in French Indochina was photographer Léon Busy (1874-1951).

A roadside eatery in rural Hà Đông province, 1915. At the time, Hà Đông province covered an area corresponding to several suburban districts and part of the urban core of present-day Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.

Định Công village in Hà Đông province, 1915. Today the area is part of Hanoi (formerly Định Công ward, Hoàng Mai district).

The market of Định Công village.

A house beside a pond in Định Công village.

A rural scene in old Định Công village.

Thatched market stalls in Thanh Liệt village, now part of Hanoi (formerly Thanh Liệt commune, Thanh Trì district).

A banyan tree and a water landing in Mậu Lương village, now part of Hanoi (formerly Kiến Hưng ward, Hà Đông district).

Hoàng Trọng Phu, governor of Hà Đông province, and his wife in front of their villa, 1915.

Another photo of the governor of Hà Đông province and his wife.

Governor Hoàng Trọng Phu and members of his family.

The children of Governor Hoàng Trọng Phu.

The ancestral altar in Hoàng Trọng Phu's home during Tết (Lunar New Year), 1915.

Narcissus flowers on the ancestral altar in Hoàng Trọng Phu's home.

The gate of the mausoleum complex of Viceroy Hoàng Cao Khải in Thái Hà hamlet (comprising land from the four villages of Thịnh Quang, Nam Đồng, Khương Thượng and Yên Lãng), Hà Đông province, now part of Hanoi (the former Đống Đa district).

Inside the grounds of Hoàng Cao Khải's mausoleum. Hoàng Cao Khải was the father of Hoàng Trọng Phu, the governor of Hà Đông.

A countryside scene in Thái Hà hamlet.

Flooding in Thái Hà hamlet.

A cemetery of the nobility in Thái Hà hamlet during the flood.

Wrestlers pay homage to the village guardian deity before facing off at a Tết festival in Xa La village, Hà Đông province, now part of Hanoi (formerly Phúc La ward, Hà Đông district).

A gentleman sitting in the courtyard of a house in Xa La.

The canton chief and village elders gather in front of the communal house of Nam Dư village, now part of Hanoi (formerly Lĩnh Nam ward, Hoàng Mai district).

The canton chief sits under a ceremonial parasol in the courtyard of the communal house.

A local official standing by the gate of the communal house.

A buffalo head placed on the altar inside the communal house.

Patients at the leper colony in Yên Duyên, now part of Hanoi (formerly Yên Sở ward, Hoàng Mai district).

Portrait of a leprosy patient in Yên Duyên.

Children outside a pagoda in Thanh Trì, Hà Đông province, now part of Hanoi (the former Thanh Trì district). The French called it the "slaughterhouse pagoda" (Pagode de l'abattoir).