Irkutsk is one of the oldest cities of Russia. It was founded as a
winter house in the mouth of the Irkuts River. In 1661 Yakov Pokhabov
and his people built a fortress on the high Angara bank opposite the place
where the Irkut River falls into Angara. The destiny of Irkutsk was predetermined
by its favorable geographical position. Being on the important colonization
and trade routes connecting the European part of Russia with China, Mongolia
and the Russian Far East, Irkutsk quickly grew and developed. As early
as in 1686 it was awarded the title of the city.
At present Irkutsk is among the largest cities of the Russian Federation
and has the status of one of the seven cities having a unique historical
and cultural heritage. Its population is more than 700 thousand people.
It is an administrative, business, scientific and cultural center that
has more than ten thousand mills of different scale, a Branch of the Siberian
Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences with a number of scientific
institutions, a university and some higher educational institutions that
train about 80 thousand students
Irkutsk is a Siberian city in which old log houses with wooden laces neighbor
modern multi-storey buildings. It has a Drama Theatre and a Musical theatre,
a Theatre for Young People, a concert hall with a symphony orchestra,
an organ hall. The Irkutsk Museum of Regional Studies, one of the oldest
in Russia, has rich archeological and ethnographic collections. A Museum
of Arts created on the base of a private collection has been here for
about 120 years. Works by Irkutsk writers Konstantin Sedykh, Alexander
Vampilov, Mark Sergeev, Valentin Rasputin are well known outside Russia.
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