Irkutsk

   Irkutsk is over 300 years old and owes much of its development to its location on the trade ways to Mongolia and China. It was founded in 1661 when the Russian military Cossack troops established a fortress on the right bank of the Angara River. From late 17th century, it was a political, economical and cultural centre of Eastern Siberia. The city's Russian classical architecture dates from the period of the 1880s when the city boomed after gold was discovered in the area. Most of the brick mansions and grand public buildings varying in architectural styles were constructed in the late 19th - early 20th century when trade in gold, fur and diamonds suddenly created new wealth.
See the charming wooden houses richly decorated with woodcarvings, beautiful Russian Orthodox churches of 17th and 18th centuries, the Polish Cathedral (the only Siberian Gothic-style building). Visit the Decembrists’ House and the Irkutsk Ethnographic Museum and enjoy the hospitality of a truly multi-cultural region of Russia.