|
One of the primary sights in Irkutsk it is its gorgeous Lake Baikal. Lake Baikal is situated in the south of East Siberia. The deepest lake in the world - 1637 m, has unique features: its area is 35 000 km2 and approximate is equal to Belgium's territory. No other lake can be compared with Lake Baikal in age, reserves and properties of water. Scientists estimate an age of Lake Baikal as 25 - 30 million years. Most of lakes, especially appeared in the ice age, exist for 10 - 15 thousands years and then are filled up with sediments and disappear from the surface of the Earth. Lake Baikal has no signs of aging, like other lakes. On the contrary, after researches geophysicists said, that Lake Baikal is a conceiving ocean.
Founding Place of Irkutsk by Cossack soldiers of Yakov Pokhabov in 1661 - the oldest point of the city. Victory Square. Memorial to the Soviet People's Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 with Eternal Flame. Church of Our Saviour - the oldest stone construction in the city, built in 1706. Cathedral of the Epiphany, consecrated in 1723. Catholic Church (used as an Organ Music Hall), built in 1884 in honor of the participants of the Polish national liberation movement against tsarism and, in particular, of the uprising of 1863.
Kirov Square with a spacious park in its center with thick leafy maples, mountain ashes, poplars, and larches, colorful flowers. The biology and soil department of the University. Regional Administration Building. State University of Languages. City Hall. State Bank. Vostsibugol (Eastern-Siberian Coal-Mining Board). Irkutsk State Teachers' Training University.
Labor Square. Palace of Youth - one of the most attractive buildings in Irkutsk, with an intricate brickwork design, built in 1897 for A. Vtorov, one of Siberia's richest merchants. Central Telegraph Office. Circus.
Irkutsk Znamensky Convent, founded in 1683. Behind the Znamensk church's fence - Graves of the Decembrists: P. Mukhanov, N. Panov, V. Bechasnov. Tomb of Yekaterina Trubetskaya with three of her children - countess and wife of S. Trubetskoy, one of the founders and leaders of the Northern Secret Society - the first woman to follow her husband into exile in Siberia. Grave of G. Shelikhov (1748-1795) - merchant, traveler, seafarer, explorer, who reached Alaska and California, one of the founders of the Russian-American Company.
Karl Marx Street - the main street of Irkutsk. Out-patient Clinic. Okhlopkov Irkutsk Drama Theater. Dynamo Sports Complex. Irkutsk Museum of Regional Studies. Deer Stone. Revolutionary Fighters' Monument. White House - University's Scientific library, containing over 3,000,000 volumes, incl. over 10,000 very rare books, Russian and foreign classics published during their authors' lifetime, 529 unique manuscripts, 526 sets of very rare journals, other magazines and essays on different branches of knowledge.
We invite you to enjoy walking down Yuri Gagarin Boulevard. The city is proud also of Memorial to the First Pioneers of Siberia, erected in 1908 to commemorate the completion of the Great Siberian Way (Trans-Siberian Railway), Wooden Houses with carvings, State University, Building of Medical University, Lenin Street, Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, Musical Comedy Theater, Youth Theater and Fine Arts Museum.
|
