Alexander Katashevtsev - The Most Detailed Travel Guide around Irkutsk. All the attractions with the route of movement & addresses

Irkutsk soldiers in Paris

Turning to the right, we find ourselves on the December Events street, which is named after the fierce battles that were fought here from December 21 to December 30 in 1917. As well as this street was the last known border of the Russian Empire – the so-called “Ushakovsky Front” passed here in winter of 1919.

In the past, December Events Street had different names: Moskovskaya, Vladimirskaya, Laninskaya. The origin of the first name does not raise questions, and the second is associated with a magnificent temple that appeared here in 1780. Today, the premises of Vladimir Church are taken up by an Orthodox female gymnasium, and only rare ornaments on the walls of educational institution remind of the temple itself. In 1938, a garment factory was located here, had seized the building of the last cathedral in Irkutsk and greatly rebuilt it. Today it is planned to return the church to believers and restore the monument.

Vladimir Church

In its turn, Laninskaya Street was named in honour of the dynasty of Irkutsk merchants and especially F.A. Lanin, who created the first ironworks in Baikal region in 1738.

Vladimir Church

Opposite the Vladimir Church, you can see the beautiful building of the first Khaminov women’s gymnasium, built in 1860 and named after the famous Irkutsk merchant I.S. Khaminov, who donated about 1 million golden rubles (1.4 billion in modern rubles) for the needs of education in Irkutsk Governorate. The building was rebuilt several times, was seriously damaged in the great fire in 1879 and during the fighting in 1917, but in general it has been very well preserved to this day. Today there is a school number 72, which is continuing the traditions of education of the 19th century in the best possible way.

Irkutsk merchant I.S. Khaminov

We continue our movement and turn right to Polskikh Povstantsev Street (former Seminarian), which got its name from the largest rebellion of Polish exiles in the history of Russia – the Baikal Insurrection in the summer of 1866. Moving along the buildings of the Irkutsk Pedagogical Institute and the bakery building, you can see one of the most beautiful wooden mansions in Irkutsk, which belonged to the Razsokhin family before the revolution in Russia. I.K. Razsokhin, who lived here in the first half of the 19th century, became the first Russian teacher of the Chinese language and the compiler of the Russian transcription of Chinese hieroglyphs.

Mansions in Irkutsk of the Razsokhin family

At the end of the street we are met again the Polish Church, and we turn left and move towards the main city square. On the right we see a small stele made of pink granite, which was installed in memory of the awarding of the Irkutsk Region with the Order of Lenin on June 8, 1967 for the successes achieved by workers in the field of economic and cultural construction, the creation of large industrial and energy complexes on the Angara River.

Stele in memory of the awarding of the Irkutsk Region with the Order of Lenin

Just behind the stele you can see a small chapel built on the initiative of the administration on October 4, 2000 on the place of the altar of the Kazan Cathedral destroyed in 1932. It is a miniature copy of one of the domes of the temple. Inside groundwork of the building is laid with the stones from the foundations of the lost church.

Chapel on the place of the altar of the Kazan Cathedral

Right next to it, on the other side of the street, until Soviet times, there was another very picturesque chapel in the name of St. Innocent Bishop of Irkutsk, consecrated on January 16, 1877.

Chapel in the name of St. Innocent Bishop of Irkutsk

In its place today is the management building of OJSC “Irkutskenergo”, one of the four non-state independent energy companies in Russia. Unfortunately, none of the 9 stone chapels that existed in Irkutsk before the revolution has survived to this day.

We are at the entrance to the main square of Irkutsk. Since 1935, it has been named after the first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee and the manque head of the Soviet Union S.M. Kirov. However, over the long years of its existence, starting in the 1670s it changed at least 12 names. For the longest time it was known as Kremlin, Gostinodvorskaya and Tikhvin Square. Since 1752, the main trading platform of Eastern Siberia, the large Gostiny Dvor (Merchant Yard), was located here. In 1778, a stone building for more than 270 trade shops was built on this site according to the project of the Italian master of classicism Giacomo Quarenghi. Unfortunately it was destroyed a century later by the great fire in Irkutsk and has not remained to our days.

Gostiny Dvor (Merchant Yard)

Let’s go around this square. The first on the right meets the familiar building of the government of the Irkutsk region. After it on a left rises the colonnade of the only Institute of Foreign Languages in Siberia (Institute of Philology, Foreign Languages and Media Communication of ISU), which was built by the talented Soviet architect I.G. Efimov in 1950. Irkutsk has the oldest traditions of teaching foreign languages in Siberia. Even the first school in the history of the city, opened by Archimandrite Anatoly Platkovsky in 1724, was “Russian-Mongolian” and educated translators from Mongolian together. Also the first in Siberia and the second in the world school of the Japanese language was opened in the city in 1754.

Institute of Foreign Languages

Moving further along the square, you can see a large parking lot, where until 2007 stood the building of the legendary long-term construction of Irkutsk – the annex of the “block A” of the city administration or the so-called “house on legs”, which was designed back in 1975 by V.A. Pavlov in the style of New Brutalism. The author himself has devoted more than 20 years to the capital of Eastern Siberia and is still one of the 50 best architects in the history of 20th century according to the World Triennial of the International Union of Architects.