Most likely of Russian origin, Alexander Svoboda established a studio in Smyrna (Izmir), Turkey, in the mid-1850s, where he produced travel albums for young aristocrats as they made the "grand tour" of the eastern Mediterranean and biblical sites. Svobodas Seven Churches of Asia (1869), with text by H. B. Tristram and with 20 mounted prints, documented the remains of seven cities in the region of Anatolia that received epistles from John describing his visions, as recorded in the New Testament book of Revelations. He travelled extensively in the Middle East and India. Also known as a portrait painter his photographs soon became just as well known. Svoboda's photographs were frequently reproduced as wood engravings in periodicals such as Le Tour du Monde.
