Irkutsk is preparing for the Olympic torch relay. Festive sites will open at Irkutsk Passenger station, at IRGTU, at Baikal Arena, near Sukachev Estate and other places. Irkutsk will be the 65th city on the route. The torch will be carried by 227 participants, including famous athletes and artists.

The first festive venue will be the Irkutsk-Passazhirsky railway station. The celebration will be styled after the 19th century. The station will be decorated accordingly, and the actors will be dressed in costumes of that era.
The next celebration will take place at 11:00 on Lermontov Street near the building of Irkutsk State Technical University. At 12:00, the Relay will be welcomed at the House of Children's Creativity No. 3 (1a/1 Bezbokova St., “GES Administration” stop). Then at 12:40, the Relay will be received by the Baikal-Arena sports complex. At 16:00, a celebration is scheduled at the Sukachev Estate (Sovetskaya Street, the square near the tank). At 17:15, the Olympic flame will be welcomed by the N.M. Zagursky Irkutsk Musical Theater. The main celebration in Irkutsk will begin at 17:00 in Kirov Square.
Irkutsk will become the 65th city to welcome the Olympic Torch Relay. Here, the Olympic flame will be carried by 227 torchbearers. Another 13 torchbearers are involved in the special project “Baikal.” Among them are well-known people — silver medalist of the London Olympic Summer Games Daria Dmitrieva, People’s Artist of Russia Denis Matsuev, participant in the London Olympic Summer Games Olga Kurban, champion of the Deaflympic Games in Sofia Valeria Kladovikova, and others.
As a reminder, the Olympic Torch Relay began its route from Moscow on October 7, 2013. According to the organizers’ estimates, 90% of Russia’s population will be within an hour’s reach of the Relay route, thus about 130 million residents of our country will be able to become direct spectators and participants in the Relay. In total, the Relay will cover more than 65,000 kilometers.
Throughout the history of the Olympic Winter Games, the Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay will be the longest. The Sochi 2014 Olympic torch will be carried through 2,900 settlements in all 83 regions of Russia by 14,000 torchbearers. The Relay will conclude with the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Sochi on February 7, 2014.
Based on materials from the press service of the Department for Physical Culture and Sports of the Irkutsk Region