What to See in Irkutsk - Top Sights and Attractions

Russian orthodox church in Irkutsk, Russia. The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption also called the Polish Church, it is a Catholic church in Gothic style located in Irkutsk, in Siberia, Russia.

A first small wooden church and catholic was built in 1825 in Irkutsk by Catholic settlers. It was enlarged in 1855, but burned down in the great fire of the city in July 1879. A new brick structure is built by the Polish community between 1881 and 1883 dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Its neo-Gothic style differs from the Orthodox churches in the shape of the dome, like The Savior, which is nearby. It was done according to the plans of the Polish architect Jan Tamulewicz and the interior was decorated by Wojciech Koperski. The altarpiece is from 1868. A new harmonium was brought from the United States in 1896.^[1]

Cathedral in Irkutsk, Russia. The Immaculate Heart of Mary Cathedral is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Joseph at Irkutsk. It is located at 11 Griboyedov St. in Irkutsk, in the region of Siberia in Russia. It is known for its organ concerts. In 1820 a Roman Catholic parish was founded in Irkutsk, which was then a growing city. Most parishioners were Poles, Lithuanians, or Belarusians, but membership included representatives of many of the Russian Empire's ethnic groups. A wooden church was later dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption, but burned down during the Great Fire of Irkutsk in 1879. A new Gothic church was consecrated in 1886. The parish was suppressed in Soviet times, during which the priests were arrested and sent to the camps.

After the fall of the Soviet Union the new Russian government permitted religious activities to resume. However, in 1998 the city of Irkutsk declined to return what had been church property to local Catholic religious groups, but instead gave them a plot of land on which to build a cathedral, which was consecrated on September 8, 2000.^[3]

Botanical garden in Irkutsk, Russia. The Botanic Garden of the Irkutsk State University is a botanic garden in Irkutsk, Siberia, Russia.

It is the only botanic garden in Baikalian Siberia (the Lake Baikal region) and is known as the Irkutsk Botanic Garden. Its mission is "to protect and enrich the flora of the Lake Baikal area and the world for people through public education, collection, propagation, research, and conservation of plants." The garden is principally an educational and scientific tool for the university and maintains the largest living plant collection in the region (more than 5000 plant taxa), an herbarium and a seedbank. It occupies 27 hectares (67 acres) within Irkutsk city, 70 kilometres (43 mi) west of Lake Baikal. It has the status of being federal strictly protected land and a nature memorial of Irkutsk.

Irkutsk Botanic Garden is now used as a cross-disciplinary educational and research facility by different departments and faculties of Irkutsk State University and other universities of the Lake Baikal region, in a broad range of disciplines including botany, zoology, ecology, agronomy, soil science, geography, landscape architecture, management, economics, mathematics, informatics, service and marketing, psychology, social sciences and sociology, and tourism.

On the basis of environmental resources of the university Botanic Garden and Kaya Grove, the Irkutsk Mayor office along with the Irkutsk State University are going to establish a public Irkutsk Botanic Garden as ecological techno-park and tourism and recreation center on the territory of 100 hectares. It is a member of the BGCI (Botanic Gardens Conservation International) and the EABGN (East Asian Botanic Gardens Network).^[4]

University in Irkutsk, Russia. Irkutsk State University was founded in October 1918 in Irkutsk, Siberia. Nowadays Irkutsk State University is a large scientific and educational institution training students in humanities, natural, technical and applied sciences. ISU facilities include 8 educational institutions, 11 faculties, the scientific library that is one of the largest University libraries in Russia. ISU offers bachelor, master, post-graduate programs for more than 18,000 students that have opportunity to specialize under the supervision of world-known scientists.

Among other facilities Irkutsk State University has the Center for Advanced Training and Retraining, 3 research institutes, Interregional Institute of Social Sciences, Center for New Information Technologies, Baikal Research and Education Center, department for post-graduate and doctoral courses, scientific libraries, astronomical observatory and botanic garden.

The University faculties and institutions are located in 14 educational buildings in Irkutsk. The majority of these buildings are of great historical and architectural value. They date back to the 18th-19th centuries. Senior students of all the faculties have specialized courses and internship in laboratories and scientific research institutions of ISU and Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

For decades, Irkutsk University has trained more than 80 thousand highly qualified specialists, famous scientists, teachers, writers, and statesmen, including State Prize winners and famous talented writers V. Rasputin, A. Vampilov, and M. Sergeev.^[6]

Monastery of the Icon of Our Lady "Sign" - Female Orthodox Monastery in Irkutsk.

Monastery was founded in 1689 at the mouth of Uszakowki to Angara. The first monastic buildings were entirely erected from wood. The first monastery council in 1727 was already described as in a bad condition. A new construction from wood was erected in his place, but after another 20 years the decision was made to build new brick facilities. Work on raising a new Liturgical and Residential Building Complex lasted until the beginning of the 19th century. At that time, the Cathedral of the Mother of Our Lady "Sign", the Orthodox church of Saints Dymitr and Tryfon, two residential facilities for nuns and a supervisor, economic buildings, was decorated with a monastery cemetery, and the whole was surrounded by a wall with an entrance gate.

Building monastery was erected in a baroque style. The main council, built in 1757-1762, was initially as a single-nave. In the years 1787 and 1794, two sideways were added to him with the altars of the Kazan Icon of Our Lady and Transfiguration.

There are, among others on the monastery cemetery. The tombstones of the Russian explorer Grigorija Szelichowa and Jekatieriny Trubecka, the wife of the activist of the deck of the deck of Siergieja Trubecki, who voluntarily left with him to exile.

In the 19th century, the nuns began to lead at the monastery of the hospital for monks, then also school for girls. The monastery was closed by the Soviet authorities in 1926, and his main council continued its activity as a parish church, and from 1929 - the Council of Irkucka Eparchy. In 1936, this temple was closed and adapted to the garage and the aircraft repair workshop. The Russian Orthodox Church regained the object in 1945, from 1948 again meets the functions of the Eparchial Cathedral. Since 1990, the relics of Saint are particularly worshiped in its area. Innocente Irkucki. From 1994, the monastery is open again.