Architecture & Heritage 1 min read
The Kharlampievsky Church is complete after 20 years of work
The final stage of restoration of this late-18th-century Siberian Baroque monument has been accepted: the façades, plinth and apron have been renewed.
The city and the lake in writing
Articles
History, architecture, Baikal, food and the seasons — writing that helps you see more than meets the eye.
Nature & Wildlife 1 min read
Almost half of the visitors to Pribaikalsky National Park come for the first time
Zapovednoye Pribaikalye surveyed 449 visitors: more than half live in the Irkutsk Region and 62% come with their families.
Food & Local Cuisine 1 min read
A restaurant of late-19th-century Baikal cuisine opens in a historic house on Sukhe-Batora Street
The Pepel restaurant is in the house where the geologist and explorer Sergei Peretolchin lived.
Long Reads 1 min read
Two hundred years later: how Irkutsk remembered the Decembrists
Three exhibitions in four months — about Russia before 14 December 1825, original documents of the exile and the 105 Decembrists sent to Irkutsk Governorate.
Food & Local Cuisine 1 min read
Pancakes, a tavern and an effigy: Maslenitsa at Taltsy
On 21 and 22 February 2026 the museum of wooden architecture celebrated Maslenitsa with folk games and treats.
Architecture & Heritage 1 min read
Irkutsk takes on the restoration of several more historic buildings
Investors selected by tender are restoring houses on Dzerzhinskogo, Sofyi Perovskoy, Kozhova and Barrikad streets.
History of Irkutsk 1 min read
A multimedia exhibition about the Decembrists opens at the Volkonsky House Museum
Between 1826 and 1827, 105 Decembrists were sent to Irkutsk Governorate. Their fates are told through archival documents on interactive panels.
Culture & Traditions 1 min read
Sagaalgan 2026: how Irkutsk celebrates the White Month
A purification rite at the datsan, the “Sagaalganai Yokhor” festival with national cuisine and concerts by Buryat ensembles.
Nature & Wildlife 1 min read
The Irkutsk State University Botanical Garden receives federal status
The garden has been included in the unified state register of botanical gardens, arboretums and natural monuments.