The Most Detailed Travel Guide around Irkutsk. All the attractions with the route of movement & addresses
compiled by the great Russian poets G.R. Derzhavin and I.I. Dmitriev. On the monument you can see Aleutian masks, anchors, ship logs, masts and an image of death, which so early interrupted the life of that great explorer (died at the age of 46). In addition, on the monument, right under the bas-relief of G.I. Shelikhov, you can see a medal and a sword, which he was awarded in 1788 personally from Empress Catherine the Great. But the support of the state ended there, and the merchant was left to himself in development of a new territories. Perhaps that led to his early death.
Tombstone on the grave of G.I. Shelikhov
Opposite the grave of the great explorer, under a white cube with a cross, there is an unnamed burial, where the imperishable body of Ioann Smirnov, the last archbishop of Irkutsk and Verkholensk, has been buried since 1930. Initially, he was buried in the Epiphany Cathedral, but after the handover of the temple to the bakery factory, the relics had to be reburied.
the last archbishop of Irkutsk and Verkholensk Ioann Smirnov
Nearby you can see the grave of another person with a difficult post-mortem fate. This is the burial place of the second bishop of Irkutsk and Nerchinsk, Innocent Nerunovich, who turned out to be a truly irreplaceable person, because after his death in 1747, for almost six years no one could be found in his place. Primarily, his body was buried at the Bratsk Saviour Hermitage, however, during the preparation of the bed of the future Bratsk water reservoir in 1960, the remains were transported by Bishop Veniamin Novitsky to Irkutsk and buried at the Radishchevo cemetery. On October 14, 2001, on the Intercession of the Virgin, the body of Innocent Nerunovich was solemnly reburied at the Our Lady of the Sign Monastery. Perhaps not for the last time, since nowdays the question of canonization of the bishop under the name St. Innocent of Bratsk is being discussed. In this case, his relics will be transported to the city of Bratsk.
Bishop of Irkutsk and Nerchinsk Innocent Nerunovich
We leave the Our Lady of the Sign Monastery and continue our way along the Angara embankment along the street named after I.V. Surnova – an active participant in the “December events” in 1919. In the past, it was called the Admiralty, since it began from the center of the Siberian flotilla. Later it was renamed to Angarskaya and Peasant street.
On the right stretches the industrial area, where the administration of Yangelev mining and processing plant for the extraction of quartz sands is located, the deposit itself is in the north of the Irkutsk region in the Nizhneilimsk district. In close vicinity, the famous confectionery factory “Angara”, which produces more than 120 types of sweets since 1957.
Confectionery factory “Angara”
In 1985, there were 70 industrial enterprises in Irkutsk, and every third Irkutsk citizen worked at the plant or factory. Today, less than a dozen factories remain in the city, the largest of which are presented by aircraft production, heavy engineering and constructing.
Rabochego Shtaba Street
Meanwhile, we turn right onto the street, which is named after N.S. Shevtsov – the rector of ISU and the creator of the first postgraduate studies school under it. He headed the university during the WWII. Many small enterprises of Irkutsk, which are engaged in the production of packaging and metal structures, are located along this street.
But most of all, our attention is attracted by the grandiose complex of the distillery factory “Kedr” on the right hand, which ceased to exist in 2010. This oldest Siberian enterprise for the production of strong alcoholic beverages was opened back in 1904. It was one of the few in Soviet times which exported products abroad, thanks to the amazing quality of Baikal water, from which the products were made. Today, the fate of the building, which was built by the engineer A.S. Pokrovsky, it is being decided.
Distillery factory “Kedr”
Opposite the plant is one of the most unusual temples in Irkutsk. The Intercession and Candlemas Church was built in 1828 on the basis of a wooden dwelling house of the merchant E.Y. Lychagov, who donated it to the full ownership of the diocese soon before his death. Unfortunately, the temple was closed in 1934, and transferred to the management of a nearby mechanical repair plant.
Intercession and Candlemas Church
Today, there are numerous shops in the workshops of the former mechanical repair factory. But on June 21, 1945, it was here that the first production of cars in the history of Irkutsk was established – these were the lend-lease Studebakers. During the three years that this plant worked in the Marata district the its repairmen assembled 1928 “Americans”, including 755 Studebakers, 550 Chevrolet and 14 Fords.
The authorities did not spare the magnificent chapel located next to the Intercession Church at the burial place of the 1st guild merchant P.A. Ponomarev, who died in St. Petersburg, but whose remains, according to his will, were delivered to Irkutsk in 1893, to that part of the city where he spent his youth. This man bequeathed almost a million royal rubles to his Fatherland for the needs of education, having amassed a fortune on the tea trade.
The grave of merchant P.A. Ponomarev
On the other side of the street there is still a school building (now school No. 10), which was created in 1899 with his capital. Today it bears the glorious name of P.A. Ponomarev. Among the graduates of this school: the governor of the Irkutsk region B.A. Govorin and guitarist of the Russian musical group “Dune” I. Plyaskin.
School of P.A. Ponomarev
At the crossroads, we turn right onto Rabochego Shtaba (Worker’s Headquarters) Street, named so because in December 1919 in the building of the Znamensky Baths of the Polish revolutionary B.P. Shostakovich, which are located nearby, was the Central Headquarters of Workers and Peasants’ squads, which started an uprising against the Kolchak government. Previously, the street was called Yakutskaya, since the main path which was connected Irkutsk with the Lena River, as well as Okhotsk on the Pacific coast and even Russian America passed along it.
Znamensky Baths of the Polish revolutionary B.P. Shostakovich
Following the building of school No. 10 and its modern annex, there is another magnificent monument in a very neglected condition – this is the main building of the Irkutsk Teachers’ Seminary, which appeared at this place in 1872. Once upon a time life was in full swing here: one of the first meetings of Russian Communist Party of Bolsheviks in Irkutsk was held in the building, here also located the Marat Workers’ Palace, where a musical and theatre sections was operated. In 1925, the seminary complex was transferred to School No. 20 of Irkutsk, where it was housed until 1932, when the largest cartographic factory in Eastern Siberia moved in the premises. In 2005, the old building burned down and today is waiting for its fate.
Irkutsk Teachers’ Seminary
After the former seminary from the stone building of the Borukhson soap factory (Rabochego Shtaba street, 25), we turn left and go up an inconspicuous street named after the third Soviet cosmonaut and twice Hero of the Soviet Union A.G. Nikolaev. An old section of wooden buildings from the