Irkutsk

The first mention of Irkutsk dates back to 1620. At that time a ‘zimovyo’ – an ancient Russian wooden settlement appeared at the mouth of the Irkut river. Cossack Berezovsky with 50 men under his command came here from the banks of the Yenisei river. He and Petrushka Taltsin, a boyar’s son, were the first settlers. It was a good choice of a place for a settlement: on a high bank of the Angara river, with good lands nearby, forests full of game and rivers full of fish.

In 1661 a wooden ‘ostrog’(fortress) was built by Yakov Pokhabov and the Cossacks at his command. It was named ‘Irkutsky’. In the second half of the 17^th century the small settlement on the bank of the river developed into a large trade centre and into one of the early centres of Russian culture in the East. In 1686 Irkutsk was given the status of a city. The great Russian writer Anton Chekhov, passing through Irkutsk on his way to Sakhalin, wrote in his letter home: ”Irkutsk is the best of all Siberian towns… It is very cultured.”

The history of Irkutsk was dramatic. At various times the city was the place of exile of Ibrahim Gannibal, great-grandfather of the famous poet Pushkin; the writer Radishchev; the Decembrists; members of the Petrashevsky Society; Polish revolutionaries; Populists and Bolsheviks. Political exiles had a great positive influence on Irkutsk and its people; for example, members of the Petrashevsky Society founded a newspaper in Irkutsk in 1857.

For three centuries Irkutsk was mostly a wooden town. But the fires of 1775 and 1879 were a disaster. After the fires many new administrative, religious and commercial building were built of stone, among them the Church of Our Saviour, the Epiphany Church, different office buildings, shops and respectable private houses.

Today Irkutsk is the centre of East Siberian economic and cultural life. The city has 5 theatres, 20 scientific institutions, 13 higher schools, a symphony orchestra, cinemas, a circus, stadiums and a branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The city covers a large territory and has a population of about 7 hundred thousand people. As an industrial centre it has developed heavy industry as well as chemical, electrical and wood industries. The territory occupied by the Irkutsk region is rich in furs, water and mineral resources.

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ABOUT IRKUTSK	\|	The City of Irkutsk

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