Читать книгу The Most Detailed Travel Guide around Irkutsk. All the attractions with the route of movement & addresses - Alexander Dmitrievich Katashevtsev - Страница 3

We begin our journey from the building of one of the most beautiful railway stations in Russia, built in 1907 by the architect V.I. Kolyanovsky. The rails of the Trans-Siberian Railway came to Irkutsk in 1898, and this was a great event, not only because it connected the city with the central part of the country, from which the city was separated by thousands of kilometres of poorly developed territories, but also as it led to a doubling of the population and the opening completely new perspectives.

The first railroad station of Irkutsk

But it could be left out from the “great steel road”, like Tomsk, Kolyvan or Nerchinsk, but the mighty mountains of Lake Baikal did not allow this to happen. After six geotechnical expeditions (from 1887 to 1902), it was decided to build the Trans-Siberian exactly through Irkutsk, despite the recommendations of Emperor Alexander III to avoid the capital of Eastern Siberia.

It is no coincidence that we begin our journey from here, since the Irkutsk railway station is located right at the foot of Kayskaya mountain, which glorified the city throughout the world with the discovery of the Glazkov necropolis – the largest ancient burial ground in the territory of the modern city.

Arrival of the first train to Irkutsk

On the whole territory of Eastern, Western Siberia and the Far East taken together were founded as many stone age graves as at the area of the Lokomotiv stadium, which is located nearby the railway. Moreover, this amount is only 2% of the total number of finds, many of which are the high valuable artefacts that adorn more than one collection of museums in Siberia and central Russia.

Glazkov culture

We will continue our movement along Chelnakov street, named after military twice hero of the Soviet Union, General N.V. Chelnokov, who flew more than 270 sorties, killing the enemies in the air and on the ground from Baltic to Black Sea. How symbolic that he was born in Irkutsk on May 9, 1906 which is a day of great victory in WWII. The monument to him was established at the entrance group to the Sverdlovsky district of the city unforgivably late: only on October 2, 2016, to the 110th anniversary of the birth of aviation general.

Twice hero of the Soviet Union, General N.V. Chelnokov