Around the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross in Irkutsk
Along Podgornaya Street from the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross in Irkutsk you can walk to a wide staircase that leads to the Central Park of Culture and Leisure. The area between the temple and the park is built up mainly with wooden houses, many of them are abandoned; this is not a very prosperous place, despite the proximity of the park. The park itself includes part of the former Jerusalem cemetery, but otherwise it is an ordinary green area without any special infrastructure, but quite suitable for walking in good weather. If you go up the stairs, on the left you will see the large classic Church of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem.
It was once a church adjacent to the cemetery, which gave it its name. However, it looks too impressive for a cemetery church. It was built later than most city churches, in 1830, which determined the unusual appearance of this temple for Irkutsk. The Baroque era had ended by that time (although, note, in Siberia, due to its remoteness, it lasted longer than in central Russia), and by that time the metropolitan fashion for classicism, which reigned supreme in the era of Alexander I and at the beginning, had arrived here by that time. reign of Nicholas I.
The temple is distinguished by a wide, squat dome and three colonnades on three sides. Liturgical life in it is only just being restored; the church, which, however, was handed over to the believers back in 2000, was consecrated quite recently.
On the other side of the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, where the central Lenin Street bifurcates, there is a monument to the symbol of the city - the babr. Babr is the Yakut word for the Amur tiger, the most powerful predator in the Far East. Initially, back in the 17th century, the babr appeared on the coat of arms of Yakutsk, but then migrated to the Irkutsk coat of arms, where it holds a sable in its teeth.
When the Yakut origin of the word had already been thoroughly forgotten, one of the officials of the royal heraldry, not very knowledgeable in the Siberian animal world, decided that there had been a mistake in the description of the coat of arms, and replaced the letter “a” in the word “babr” with the letter “o”. So Irkutsk almost had to change its symbol from a tiger to a beaver. However, a real beaver was never placed on the coat of arms - instead, the tiger was simply given some “beaver” features. In this compromise design of the coat of arms, which arose due to a simple misunderstanding, a unique beast was born, which Irkutsk certainly does not share with any other city.
The monument to Babr was erected in modern times, and at the same time a pedestrian zone was built nearby between Sedov and 3 July streets. Despite some artificiality (here there is an attempt to combine the appearance of a typical wooden Irkutsk with fashionable infrastructure), the place has gained great popularity - especially among newlyweds. Here is the zero kilometer of roads in the Irkutsk region.
December video
Let's watch two short videos of December Baikal. On the first one the ice has not yet risen.
On the second, the lake is already frozen.
In what form do you prefer Baikal?
Events poster
Every year at the beginning of December, creative evenings are held in the house-museum of the Decembrists. The same as in the 19th century. In the ancient estates of Volkonsky and Trubetskoy, with an interior and atmosphere corresponding to a bygone era, people gather to listen to music, watch a home theater performance or an exhibition, and, of course, to feel like nobles who lived a couple of centuries ago and feel the spirit of their life and entertainment.
Walk along Lenin Street - the central street of Irkutsk
In the other direction from the monument to Babr, the central street of the city begins - Lenin Street. Like other main streets in the center of Irkutsk, it mainly preserves pre-revolutionary buildings. True, unfortunately, not all buildings are in good condition, and many are damaged by advertising signs and look untidy. The architectural potential of the center of Irkutsk is very high - if all these houses are presented in a favorable light, the city will begin to make a much more complete impression.
On the left, immediately behind the stadium, is the Irkutsk Drama Theater named after N. Okhlopkov, facing Karl Marx Street. The building, which could adorn any world capital, can easily be called a masterpiece of 19th-century architecture and, perhaps, the best secular building in the city. Near the theater there is a monument to one of the most famous Irkutsk residents - playwright Alexander Vampilov. A native of the small town of Cheremkhovo in the Irkutsk region, Vampilov lived his entire adult life in Irkutsk. Unfortunately, this life turned out to be short - Vampilov died tragically, drowning in Lake Baikal in August 1972, on the threshold of his thirty-fifth birthday. Alas, as often happens with us, great fame overtook his plays after the death of the author. The Irkutsk Theater for Young Spectators, located on the other side of Lenin Street, bears the name of Vampilov.
Parallel to Lenin Street along the bank of the Angara River there is Gagarin Boulevard and the pedestrian embankment, a popular place for walking. The width of the Angara varies greatly in different places in the city, and sometimes it seems that these are different rivers. Upstream is the Irkutsk hydroelectric power station, due to which the river overflowed into a full-fledged reservoir.
Along the embankment there are monuments to Gagarin, whose name the boulevard bears, and to Emperor Alexander III. The latter has a special attitude here due to the fact that it was this tsar who began to build the Trans-Siberian Railway in 1891, which finally connected Irkutsk with the rest of Russia. The monument by Robert Bach was erected at the beginning of the 20th century, but during the Soviet years it was sent for melting down. In 2003, a restored copy made by sculptor Albert Charkin was returned to its original location.
Approximately in the middle of Lenin Street, it is crossed by the second most important street in Irkutsk, Karl Marx Street, which stretches across the entire city. The pre-revolutionary stone buildings on it have been preserved even better. In the adjacent alleys there are many private wooden houses, often decorated with elaborate carvings. Many of the buildings are very old, which is clearly visible from the shrinkage: the windows of the first floors have literally grown into the ground.
Between Lenin Street and the embankment, at the intersection of Gorky and 5th Army streets, there is the Kharlampievskaya Church, which is sometimes also called St. Michael the Archangel (after the dedication of the second throne).
The temple was founded in 1777. In form it is quite consistent with the North Russian Ustyug school, but is decorated with local decor, which makes it one of the monuments of the Irkutsk Baroque. The powerful bell tower is topped with a high spire, which is somewhat reminiscent of the spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
This church is also known as the Sea Church, since, according to established tradition, Russian sailors received blessings for long voyages there. Despite many thousands of kilometers to the nearest ocean, there were many sailors in Irkutsk, because the headquarters of the Russian-American company was located here. It was in this temple in 1904 that Admiral Alexander Kolchak married Sofia Omirova before another distant expedition.
If we go from the Kharlampievskaya Church along 5th Army Street further to the north-west, then soon, at the intersection with Chkalov Street, we will reach a most interesting ensemble consisting of two churches.
The oldest of them, Troitsky, is one of the best monuments of the Siberian Baroque. Particularly beautiful is the unusual octagonal shape of the upper part of its main volume, richly decorated with traditional Irkutsk ornamental carvings.
The first chapel of the church was consecrated in 1763, although the central altar was consecrated only fifteen years later due to protracted construction work. Both the quadrangle and the octagon of the temple erected on it are two-tiered, which makes it similar to the wooden tiered churches that became widespread in the 18th century in Siberia. The refectory part and the altar apse are crowned with small domes, as if framing an octagon. During Soviet times, the temple housed a planetarium, but now liturgical life has been resumed there.
In 1802, the Church of St. Gregory of Neocaesarea was founded in the courtyard of the Trinity Church. According to the project of the architect Anton Losev, it had a distinctly classicist appearance (the first such temple in Irkutsk); This is the only church in the city built in the form of a rotunda. During the 19th century, it was rebuilt several times and now has in addition four symmetrical cubic volumes, as if protruding from it.
Lower embankment
You can watch Angara meet Irkut for hours.
Here you can also bow to the monument to the pioneers and founder of Irkutsk Yakov Pokhabov. Or walk through the arch of the triumphal “Moscow Gate”, restored in 2011, which was built in 1813 in honor of the anniversary of Emperor Alexander’s accession to the throne. At first a small Cossack fort, of which many were founded among the dense forests on the eastern outskirts of the empire, by the beginning of the 18th century Irkutsk had already turned from a militarized settlement into a large trade settlement from Beijing to Moscow. Industrialists and merchants flocked to it from everywhere to mine gold and precious furs. Mikhail Bakunin, a famous thinker, desperate adventurer and preacher of Russian anarchism, who served exile here for two years and then fled through Japan and America to London, recalled about the Irkutsk merchants: “... An iron will, and a chamber of intelligence, and a mighty and wide heart, and precious experience, and enormous knowledge of the matter and the region.”
Along with businessmen, the city attracted everyone who wanted to start a new life. Fate itself brought some to the outskirts of Irkutsk: political exiles largely determined the cultural atmosphere of the city. With the advent of the Decembrists, independence and free-thinking settled in Irkutsk forever.
Travel budget
Flights on the route Moscow - Irkutsk - Moscow cost ≈ 10,000 rubles per person according to Aviasales.ru →
The journey by train will take a little more than 3 days, and a one-way ticket will cost about 7,000 rubles - find out the current price of train tickets on Poezd.ru →
Accommodation in a 3* hotel with good reviews in the city center ≈ 3,000 rubles per day for two - find a hotel on Booking.com or Hotellook.ru →
You can rent a one-room apartment for ≈ 2,000 rubles per day according to the website Sutochno.ru →
A bus ticket costs 20 rubles (interestingly, but after 20:00, its cost automatically increases to 25 rubles), dinner in a mid-price restaurant will cost about 2,000 rubles for two with drinks.
Insanely delicious snack. Try buuz.
Irkutsk and Baikal in December are a good option to see a real Siberian winter in comfortable weather for the north, recharge your New Year mood, admire the beauty of the winter, not yet frozen lake and calmly explore the main attractions of the city.
Author: Victoria Smirnova
What to bring from Irkutsk and Lake Baikal?
Baikal and Irkutsk are, first of all, nature. And they bring the appropriate souvenirs from here - herbal teas, medicinal plants, jam from pine cones and various jams with the addition of nuts.
Indulge your sweet tooth!
The highlight of the region is wild berry puree (lingonberries, blueberries, blueberries) from the Wild Siberia manufactory, which has no analogues. You can purchase the factory's products in stores in Irkutsk.
Another unusual gift will be a diary or notebook with a wool cover, sold in the “Warmth of Baikal” workshop. The Maegi boutique offers elegant silver jewelry with authentic engravings. You can buy unusual products as a gift or as a souvenir of Lake Baikal and Irkutsk at the Passage shopping center, pavilion 247.
