Irkutsk was founded as a wintering camp in 1652 by Ivan Pakhobov, a tax collector who came to collect the local Buryat fur tribute. By 1686 a church and a small town had been built on the banks of the Angara River at its confluence with the Irkut. The town developed into a center for Siberian trade with tea caravans passing through the city from China and fur-traders selling their pelts here. By the 19th century it was the recognized administrative capital of Siberia.
By 1862 Irkutsk had 16 schools, both Catholic and Protestant; 26 Orthodox churches; six hospitals; and a population of 25,000. Although the Great Fire of 1879 destroyed 75 percent of the houses, it still remained the financial and cultural center of Siberia because of its trading function and the bright minds of political exiles who often chose to live here -the most famous being the Decembrists of the 1825 St Petersburg coup attempt and the Polish nationalists of 1830.
On August 16, 1898, Irkutsk was linked to Europe by rail with the first Trans-Siberian express and it grew in importance as an industrial center. Today, engineering is the main industry with aircraft, railway, ship and vehicle repair yards; mica processing; and consumer goods manufacture. To supply power for these large industrial undertakings, the Irkutsk hydroelectric station is within the city and its reservoir extends along the Angara to include Lake Baikal. Irkutsk is still one of the largest suppliers of furs to the world market with all the country's furs collected here before auction in Leningrad, Leipzig and London. With a population of 600,000, Irkutsk is the biggest city in Eastern Siberia and serves as the administrative and cultural center for the region. Among its 26 teaching and research institutes is the A A Zhdanov University (est 1918) and the Siberian branch of the Academy of Sciences.
HOTELS:
ANGARA: 7 Ulitsa Sukhe Bator (91-4-98).
INTOURIST HOTEL: 44 Gagarina Boulevard (91-3-53).
SIBIR: 18 Ulitsa Lenina.
RESTAURANTS:
The ARKTIKA and the ALMAZ: Ulitsa Lenina.
CHINESE RESTAURANT: 67 Fifth Army Street.
Self-service cafes on Karl Marx Street are inexpensive places to eat.
PLACES OF INTEREST:
Cathedral of the Epiphany, the Church of Our Saviour, the Catholic church, Znamensky Monastery, the Opera House, the White House, and the Fur Distribution Center.
MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES:
ART GALLERY: Ulitsa Lenina. Open Wednesday - Monday 11am - 7pm.
Works displayed are by 18th and 19th century English, Flemish, French, German, Italian and Russian painters.
DECEMBRISTS DOM MUSEUM (TRUBETSKOI HOUSE): Open Wednesday - Monday 10am - 6pm.
The house was occupied by the nobles of the Decembrists unsuccessful coup in 1825 and is kept as it was when the exiles lived here.
MARIA VOLKONSKY'S HOUSE: Open Tuesday - Sunday 10am - 6pm.
This is the house of the famous Decembrist who followed her husband into exile.
MUSEUM OF REGIONAL HISTORY: Karl Marx Street and Gagarina Boulevard.
This museum has a model of the BAM, an exhibit of the Great Fire of 1879, archaeological displays from local sites showing human habitation dating back 24,000 years, and a suit made completely from fish skins.
