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Epiphany Cathedral

And so, we are standing at one of the main temples of the Irkutsk-Angarsk diocese and the first church built outside the wooden fortress – this is Epiphany Cathedral. To this day, it is one of the most unusual religious buildings in Russia.

Epiphany Cathedral

Let’s start with the fact that creating of that temple began in 1718, when officially any stone constructing was prohibited without a special buyout, because all the material went to the making of St. Petersburg, but the Irkutsk residents did not spare almost 3 thousand rubles for bricklayers. However, since they paid, they decided that they could be content with the principle: “it’s too high to God, and too far to the Tsar” – and started to build this temple in violation of all the rules and regulations of Orthodox architecture.

Epiphany Cathedral

First of all, a tent-roofed bell tower appeared, which became a forbidden fruit for builders already at the end of the 17th century. But here the nature was not on the side of the architects. And in 1742, just a year after the completion of the work, during a strong earthquake, the tent roof collapsed and a wooden “onion” with a spire was arranged in its place in 1746.

Epiphany Cathedral

A second moment is that the temple has two bell towers, one of which was built as a result of the fact that the old belfry, located above the main temple, could not bear the weight of the largest bell in the history of Irkutsk weighing 12.5 tons, which was cast especially for it in 1797. And Irkutsk people who were responsive to any charitable cause, without hesitation, decided to build another bell tower nearby, which was consecrated in 1816.But the bell did not served long. On December 31, 1861 in the afternoon, it rang out for the last time, when the echoes of the Kudara earthquake on Lake Baikal (about 7 Mw) reached Irkutsk. The bell fell off the yoke, split into pieces, and, since material was required to restore many other structures in the sufferer city, it was poured onto metal.

Map of Lake Baikal before 1862

Thirdly, on the walls of the temple you can see the most interesting ornaments that gravitate towards the traditions of Buddhism and even paganism. In addition, the Epiphany Cathedral is one of three churches in Siberia, where you can find glazed tiles with images of Slavic mythology: basilisks, unicorns, centaurs and even the famous bird Gamayun.

Tiles at the Epiphany Cathedral

The church suffered very seriously from the activities of the Irkutsk bakery, which had been located here since 1934. Therefore, in 1967—1985, during the restoration of the church by the Moscow architect G.G. Oranskaya, it was decided to remove the most damaged later layers, dismantle the bell tower and return the monument to its original appearance. At the same time, began restoration of the paintings, which continues to this day.

Before restoration of the Cathedral

Opposite the cathedral, you can see busts of the most famous saints of the city of Irkutsk, because ten holy men blessed this land with their steps: Righteous Elder Gerasim of Irkutsk, St. Innocent Kulchitsky, St. Sinesy Ivanov, St. Sophronius Crystalevskiy, St. Innocent Veniaminov, St. Meletius of Kharkov, St. Gerasim Dobroserdov, St. Meletius Yakimov, Holy Martyrs Bishops Parthenius and Ephraim.

Today, there are only three sculptures here, but every year a new monuments appear, starting in 2017, when it was 220th anniversary of the birth and 40th anniversary of the canonization of “Apostle of Siberia and America” Saint Innocent of Moscow. In 2018, on the 100th anniversary of the glorification, a bust of St. Sophronius Crystalevskiy appeared, and a year later, on the 215th anniversary of the canonization – the image of St. Innocent of Irkutsk. I would like to believe that this will become a good tradition.

Busts to Saints of Irkutsk

Moscow Gate

We will continue driving along the downer embankment of the Angara River. On the way, we will meet a monument to the teacher by the sculptor I.E. Stavsky, which appeared here in 2016 directly opposite the building of the Pedagogical Institute of Irkutsk State University (ISU). The faculties of this educational institute occupying many old buildings in the city. For example, this faculty received for use the building of Old Irkutsk Theological Seminary, built in 1790, where graduated such people as St. Innocent Veniaminov and St. Gerasim Dobroserdov. In the past, this entire quarter was covered by a huge Bishop’s Courtyard, on the site of which several residential houses and buildings of the Irkutsk bakery factory were built in Soviet times.

Monument to the teacher

From time immemorial and up to the end of the 19th century, two ferries operated on this part of the Angara embankment, which in fact connected Irkutsk with the rest of Russia, as soon as there was no other way to the East. Since 1731 at this point ended the longest road on Earth of that era – Moscow Tract (5672 km). Further from Irkutsk started the tracts to Okhotsk on Pacific Ocean (3988 km) and to Beijing (3216 km).

Moscow scow

In memory of this and on the occasion of the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the reign of Russian tsar Alexander I in 1811, a triumphal gate was laid here. Although the authorship of this amazing construction for the province is attributed to the provincial architect J.A. Kruglikov, but he could hardly have guessed such an interesting decision himself.

Moscow Triumphal Gate

And, in fact, the gate was built by the French road engineers P.D. Bazaine, J. А. Fabre, C.M. Potier, A.M. Destrem, who were exiled to Irkutsk. They could hardly suspect that they had begun construction of the symbol of great victory of the Russian army over Napoleon in the Great Patriotic War of 1812—1814. After all, it was through this triumphal arch that the first Irkutsk veterans returned home, and the Moscow Gate became the first attraction that met travellers at the entrance to city.

P. D. Bazaine

It remained the only triumphal arch in Russia beyond the Urals until gate were dismantled due to disrepair in 1928. There is a memorial sign at its place today. Nearby in 2011, at the expense of Irkutsk businessman E.G. Devochkin, the new Moscow Gate was reconstructed.

Moscow Triumphal Gate

If we recall the origins of the military glory of Irkutsk, then in 1786 the Irkutsk Dragoon Regiment was created, which became the first military unit in the history of the capital of Eastern Siberia. Its most famous general was A.A. Skalon, which died a heroic death in the battle for Smolensk on August 5, 1812.

General A.A. Skalon

At first there was a very cautious attitude towards the Siberian troops and they were always kept in reserve. However, due to the fact that most of the battles of the Napoleonic wars took place on the brink of defeat, and they had to use reserve units, Siberians more and more began to declare themselves. On February 8, 1807, the invincible army of Napoleon in the Battle of Preussisch-Eylau suffered its first defeat, largely thanks to the Irkutsk Dragoon Regiment. Later, in the decisive battle in Russia near Borodino, the Irkutsk dragoons repulsed the last attack of the French cavalry at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and the battle ended there.

Irkutsk Dragoon Regiment

From January 1813 the regiment was reorganized into the Irkutsk Hussar, and its forces were used in the personal protection of Russian Marshal M.I. Kutuzov, and during the “hundred days” of Napoleon, it was transferred to France, where it worthily completed the era of the Napoleonic wars. Due to the fact that the Irkutsk regiment was united with the Moscow one, many noble sons served in it, such as the poet and diplomat A.S. Griboyedov, composer A.A. Alyabyev, architect of the “new Moscow” J.I. Bové.

Irkutsk soldiers in Paris

Turning to the right, we find ourselves on the December Events street, which is named after the fierce battles that were fought here from December 21 to December 30 in 1917. As well as this street was the last known border of the Russian Empire – the so-called “Ushakovsky Front” passed here in winter of 1919.

In the past, December Events Street had different names: Moskovskaya, Vladimirskaya, Laninskaya. The origin of the first name does not raise questions, and the second is associated with a magnificent temple that appeared here in 1780. Today, the premises of Vladimir Church are taken up by an Orthodox female gymnasium, and only rare ornaments on the walls of educational institution remind of the temple itself. In 1938, a garment factory was located here, had seized the building of the last cathedral in Irkutsk and greatly rebuilt it. Today it is planned to return the church to believers and restore the monument.

Vladimir Church

In its turn, Laninskaya Street was named in honour of the dynasty of Irkutsk merchants and especially F.A. Lanin, who created the first ironworks in Baikal region in 1738.

Vladimir Church

Opposite the Vladimir Church, you can see the beautiful building of the first Khaminov women’s gymnasium, built in 1860 and named after the famous Irkutsk merchant I.S. Khaminov, who donated about 1 million golden rubles (1.4 billion in modern rubles) for the needs of education in Irkutsk Governorate. The building was rebuilt several times, was seriously damaged in the great fire in 1879 and during the fighting in 1917, but in general it has been very well preserved to this day. Today there is a school number 72, which is continuing the traditions of education of the 19th century in the best possible way.

Irkutsk merchant I.S. Khaminov

We continue our movement and turn right to Polskikh Povstantsev Street (former Seminarian), which got its name from the largest rebellion of Polish exiles in the history of Russia – the Baikal Insurrection in the summer of 1866. Moving along the buildings of the Irkutsk Pedagogical Institute and the bakery building, you can see one of the most beautiful wooden mansions in Irkutsk, which belonged to the Razsokhin family before the revolution in Russia. I.K. Razsokhin, who lived here in the first half of the 19th century, became the first Russian teacher of the Chinese language and the compiler of the Russian transcription of Chinese hieroglyphs.

Mansions in Irkutsk of the Razsokhin family

At the end of the street we are met again the Polish Church, and we turn left and move towards the main city square. On the right we see a small stele made of pink granite, which was installed in memory of the awarding of the Irkutsk Region with the Order of Lenin on June 8, 1967 for the successes achieved by workers in the field of economic and cultural construction, the creation of large industrial and energy complexes on the Angara River.

Stele in memory of the awarding of the Irkutsk Region with the Order of Lenin

Just behind the stele you can see a small chapel built on the initiative of the administration on October 4, 2000 on the place of the altar of the Kazan Cathedral destroyed in 1932. It is a miniature copy of one of the domes of the temple. Inside groundwork of the building is laid with the stones from the foundations of the lost church.

Chapel on the place of the altar of the Kazan Cathedral

Right next to it, on the other side of the street, until Soviet times, there was another very picturesque chapel in the name of St. Innocent Bishop of Irkutsk, consecrated on January 16, 1877.

Chapel in the name of St. Innocent Bishop of Irkutsk

In its place today is the management building of OJSC “Irkutskenergo”, one of the four non-state independent energy companies in Russia. Unfortunately, none of the 9 stone chapels that existed in Irkutsk before the revolution has survived to this day.

Square of S.M. Kirov

We are at the entrance to the main square of Irkutsk. Since 1935, it has been named after the first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee and the manque head of the Soviet Union S.M. Kirov. However, over the long years of its existence, starting in the 1670s it changed at least 12 names. For the longest time it was known as Kremlin, Gostinodvorskaya and Tikhvin Square. Since 1752, the main trading platform of Eastern Siberia, the large Gostiny Dvor (Merchant Yard), was located here. In 1778, a stone building for more than 270 trade shops was built on this site according to the project of the Italian master of classicism Giacomo Quarenghi. Unfortunately it was destroyed a century later by the great fire in Irkutsk and has not remained to our days.

Gostiny Dvor (Merchant Yard)

Let’s go around this square. The first on the right meets the familiar building of the government of the Irkutsk region. After it on a left rises the colonnade of the only Institute of Foreign Languages in Siberia (Institute of Philology, Foreign Languages and Media Communication of ISU), which was built by the talented Soviet architect I.G. Efimov in 1950. Irkutsk has the oldest traditions of teaching foreign languages in Siberia. Even the first school in the history of the city, opened by Archimandrite Anatoly Platkovsky in 1724, was “Russian-Mongolian” and educated translators from Mongolian together. Also the first in Siberia and the second in the world school of the Japanese language was opened in the city in 1754.

Institute of Foreign Languages

Moving further along the square, you can see a large parking lot, where until 2007 stood the building of the legendary long-term construction of Irkutsk – the annex of the “block A” of the city administration or the so-called “house on legs”, which was designed back in 1975 by V.A. Pavlov in the style of New Brutalism. The author himself has devoted more than 20 years to the capital of Eastern Siberia and is still one of the 50 best architects in the history of 20th century according to the World Triennial of the International Union of Architects.

House on legs

The central dominant of the square is clearly visible opposite – it’s a fountain, which was installed in the park on July 1, 1960, and literally “stolen” from its creator, who designed the decoration specially for his native city called Kursk. Todayit is the oldest of 34 fountains in the city. Next to the fountain on the western side of the square, you can see a model of the central part of pre-revolutionary Irkutsk.

Fountain on the square of S.M. Kirov

Further, on the right side, we see one of the oldest stone constructions in the city – the building of the City Duma. By the way, it has been placed here since 1874, and in Soviet times, the building was occupied by a City Committee of the CPSU. Unfortunately, only the windows of the first floor resemble about the graceful forms created by the architect V.A. Rassushin. It acquired its modern look in 1934 due to a constructivist superstructure with two floors designed by architect K. W. Mital.

City Duma

Next to the State Duma is the building of the Central Bank, built by V.N. Volkov in 1936. It is here that gold mined in the territory of the region is temporarily stored. In terms of ore gold reserves, the region is in first place in the Russian Federation (thanks to the unique Sukhoi Log deposit) and ranks fifth in gold production (up to 16 tons annually, 10% of the total production in Russia).

Central Bank

Across the road is another giant of the mining business – “Vostsibugol”. This is the fifth largest coal mining company in Russia, it owns the rights to develop deposits in Irkutsk Oblast, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Republics of Buryatia and Tyva. It produces up to 22 million tons of coal annually. The organization occupies one of the most beautiful buildings of the Soviet era in Irkutsk, built in 1950 according to the design of I.G. Efimov.

Vostsibugol

Once on the site of the park in front of the building there was a temple that for many years gave the name to the entire square – this is the Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, built in 1759. Sadly, it was razed to the ground in 1932, together with the cathedral, and at the wasteland nothing was built. It was one of the richest churches in the city, and was famous for its paintings, as well as the iconostasis with images of the 17th century. Today, a public transport stop and a park nearby the “Vostsibugol” building are named in honour of the lost church.

Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God

But let’s look at the opposite side of the square. First of all, we will see the faceless silhouette of one of the main Soviet hotels in Irkutsk called “the Angara”, established here in 1969. Earlier at this place was the predecessor of the Irkutsk Polytechnic University – Irkutsk Mining School, which opened here in 1893. Its building was dismantled during the construction of the hotel, as well as the building of the oldest city public library, which existed at the corner of modern Sukhe-Bator and Zhelyabov streets starting from 1864.

Irkutsk Mining School

Another forerunner of all technical educational institutions in Irkutsk is hiding behind the body of the hotel – the building of the industrial school named after N.P. Trapeznikov, designed by the best architects of the city H.V. Rosen and V.A. Kudelsky in 1884. Today, its premises are occupied by the Faculty of Biology and Soil Science of Irkutsk State University.

Industrial school named after N.P. Trapeznikov

Opposite the building, there is a square named after M. M. Speransky, to whom a monument was established at this place in 2016 – the first in the history of modern Russia. For a year and a half from 1819 to 1821, this great lawmaker ruled Irkutsk Governorate. For 11 months of his direct work here, two governors and 48 officials were brought to justice, 2 million and 847 thousand silver rubles were returned to the treasury. But the main result of his stay in Irkutsk was a package of 10 bills for 4019 paragraphs regarding the arrangement of life in Siberia, which Alexander approved as a laws in 1822. Grateful Siberians did not forget their patron and Kirov Square was named after M. M. Speransky from 1886 to 1917.

Monument to M. M. Speransky

Kanazawa Street

We return to the State Bank building and turn right into a small lane, formerly called Bankovsky. The walls of a residential building built in 1938 for the employees of the Irkutsk branch of the StateBank of the USSR for 40 apartments are still rise here. On the other side of the alleyway there is another creation of the Soviet era – Hotel “Sibir”, built according to the design of K.W. Mital in 1933. Half of that building facing Lenin Street burned down in a severe fire on March 13, 1995.

Hotel “Sibir”

Today it is Kanazawa Street, named after the oldest sister city of Irkutsk (since 1967), the center of Ishikawa province in Japan. In memory of strong relations at the end of the lane a monument to Russian-Japanese ties which symbolizes a common undertakings was built in 1994.

Monument on Kanazawa Street

In total, Irkutsk has 15 twin towns, and the capital of Eastern Siberia was one of six places in the USSR, which were allowed to establish such relations with foreign cities.

The city has old ties with Japan. In the summer of 1783, the ship “Shinshu-Maru” of the Japanese captain Daikokuya Kodayu with 16 sailors, after six months of drifting ended up in the waters controlled by Russia. Wanting to return to their homeland the Japanese made a long journey from the Aleutian Islands to Irkutsk where they met Academician E.G. Laxman, who helped the five surviving sailors get an audience with Empress Catherine the Greatin in St. Petersburg. Only three returned to their native land in 1792, two remained as teachers of the first Japanese language school in Siberia. Thanks to the care for seafarers Russia received the right to enter one of the closed ports of Japan for the next few years. However, it was not possible to achieve a strong friendship then, but modern relations are already have a more than half a century of history.

E.G. Laxman on Japanese engravings

Marata Street

At the crossroads we run into a wooden house of Pyatidesyatnikov and turn left. This quarter is full of beautiful wooden apartment buildings from the late 19th century. Particularly notable is the pink mansion with its brick stone outbuilding, which belonged to a certain Bibikov and where lived for a long time one of the founders of Writers’ Union of Irkutsk, as well as a delegate to the first Congress of Soviet Writers I.G. Goldberg.

Irkutsk is undoubtedly considered the “wooden capital” of Russia. No other city has so many monuments of wooden architecture as here, and there is not such a variety of styles and forms of carving. And, besides, only a few cities in Russia has preserved entire blocks of wooden buildings – these are Kyakhta, Tomsk, Irkutsk and Vologda. Today more than 760 wooden houses are under protection, but it is not possible to restore them all due to the small budget of the city. Therefore, today the prerogative is on the side of foundations that buy houses and restore them, subsequently renting them out or putting them up for sale.

If we drive a little more along Marat Street, then on the right side we can see the first five-story building in the history of Irkutsk, which was built in 1934 according to the project of K.W. Mital, who himself lived in this house (Marat st., 29). The foundation of this building was made of bricks from the destroyed Kazan Cathedral. About this house the Irkutsk writer G.S. Stom (Apartsina) wrote the book “Our Home”. And this is no coincidence, because in different years here lived the famous doctors ophthalmologist Z.G. Frank-Kamenetsky, neuropathologist K.G. Hodos, otorhinolaryngologist I.M. Krukover, histologist S.I. Timofeev and surgeon V.G. Shchipachev, one of the founders of Russian balneology and creator of health resorts “Arshan”, “Darasun”, “Shivanda” and “Ugdan” – M.P. Mikhailov, founder of the Department of Geography of ISU and creator of the plan for the Angarsk HPP cascade – professor K.N. Mirotvortsev. In addition, here in the family of her parents, odontologist S.I. Weiss and dentist E.M. Emelyanova, lived one of the most famous Soviet pop singers – A.S. Vedischeva.

The first five-story building in Irkutsk

But at the next intersection, we turn left to Sverdlov Street and on the right there is another incredible mansion which built in the Romanesque style – it is the former Bazanov orphanage, which today houses the faculty clinics of the IMSU for eye and ENT diseases. The complex of buildings was created by the architect H.V. Rosen in 1883 to replace the building lost in the Great Fire, which had been located in the same place since 1874. The owner of the orphanage I.I. Bazanov did not live to see the resumption of the activity for only two months.

Bazanov orphanage,

In Russia in 19th century, there were only eight such institutions, due to the very high mortality rate of adopted children they were not popular. Children were brought to the gates of the orphanage, where there was a special tray in which a desperate mothers left babies than they pulled the bell and ran away. No one ever tried to find out the secret of a women in childbirth. All the boys, upon completion of their education, received the surname of Bazanov and a profession, as soon as the girls received a dowry.

Merchant I.I. Bazanov

Opposite the orphanage behind a fence hides the stone mansion of Irkutsk merchant of the 2nd guild I.V. Samsonov, which was built in the middle of the 19th century and one of the few survived the Great Fire of 1879. After the construction of the hotel “Sibir” nearby, it remained in oblivion and today is in a sorrowful condition. From April to July 1915 there was an underground printing of the Bolshevik organization “Union of Printing Workers”. In Soviet times, communal apartments were appeared in the house.