September 30, 2001 – Irkutsk

We had the afternoon to explore the rich and historical city of Irkutsk, which lies in the centre of Asia and was founded by Cossack Trailblazer 300 years ago. We saw the classical Russian architecture, dating from the period of the 1880s when the city boomed after gold was discovered. There are small wooden houses or cabins near Karl Marx Street decorated with wooden lace. A beautiful Russian Orthodox Church, the local Museum and (pictured here) the Decembrists museum, a restored home of Sergei Volkonsky who was exiled to Siberian in 1825.