ABOUT IRKUTSK

Irkutsk is one of the oldest cities of Siberia. It is situated almost in the centre of Asia not far from Lake Baikal. The city stands on the banks of the Angara river at the mouth of the Irkut river. The Angara is wide, deep and swift. Its waters are cold even in summer. One can drink its water without boiling it. There are many poetic legends about Lake Baikal, the Angara and the Yenissei. In the legends, the beautiful Angara is called the only daughter of old man Baikal who ran away from her father to her bridegroom Yenissei.

Irkutsk was named after the river of Irkut, the Angara’s first great tributary. More than three hundred years ago, in 1661, Russian Cossacks built on the Angara bank opposite the mouth of the Irkut river a wooden fortress that was called the Irkutsk Fort or ostrog. Geographically it was situated in the centre of the Great Trading Way which crossed the continent of Asia from the Pacific Ocean to the Urals. Thanks to its favorable position Irkutsk quickly developed from a small settlement into a big trading, administrative, industrial, agricultural and military centre. In 1686, a quarter of a century after the building of the fort, it received the status of a town and its own coat of arms: a Siberian tiger (symbol of the power of this land) holding in its teeth a sable (symbol of its wealth). The prosperity of the town came from furs, semiprecious stones, wood and trade with Mongolia and China.

Nowadays Irkutsk is the administrative, economic and cultural centre of the Irkutsk region which is almost as large as England and France combined (768 sq. km). The population of Irkutsk is more than 600,000 people. 90% of them are Russian. Buryars, tatars, Jews and other nationalities also live here. The average life expectancy is 68.7 years old for women, 54.4 years old for men.

Irkutsk is a student town. There are many colleges, technical and vocational schools, higher educational institutions such as the State University, the Technical University, the Baikal University of Economics and Law, the Agricultural Academy, the Teachers Training University, the Linguistic University, the Medical University and many others.

Baikal, the deepest lake on the planet, attracts a lot of tourists from all over the world. Irkutsk offers to the visitors a number of monuments, memorials, museums and other places of interest.

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Education in Britain and Russia	\|	Irkutsk

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