In Irkutsk, a large program of cultural and memorial events has been prepared for May 9, plays, concerts, exhibitions, tours, film screenings and charity events will take place at several city venues. Admission for World War II veterans will be free. In addition, rehearsals for the parade will be held on May 2 and 7 in Kirov Square, and on May 9 a festive procession will go along Dekabrskikh Sobytiy Street to the Eternal Flame Memorial.

Cultural events will take place at the Irkutsk Academic Drama Theater named after N.P. Okhlopkov, the Irkutsk Musical Theater named after N.M. Zagursky, the Irkutsk Regional Theater for Young Spectators named after A. Vampilov, the theater-studio “Pilgrim Theater,” the Irkutsk Regional Philharmonic, the Irkutsk Regional Music College named after F. Chopin, the Irkutsk Theater School, the Bratsk Music College, the Irkutsk Regional Children’s Art School, the Irkutsk Regional Museum of Local Lore, and the Irkutsk Regional State Universal Scientific Library named after I.I. Molchanov-Sibirsky.
In particular, a performance of the play “Tomorrow Was War,” a concert by the Governor’s Symphony Orchestra on the square of the Trud stadium, literary and musical evenings, exhibitions “Posters of the ‘AgitokonTass’ of Irkutsk artists during the Great Patriotic War” and “Heroic Pages of the Great Patriotic War in the Work of Soviet Artists,” museum tours, a regional exhibition of children’s works “Dedicated to the Great Victory…,” screenings of war-themed films, an exhibition of books by Irkutsk writers who were front-line soldiers, and charity performances and concerts are planned. As Minister of Culture and Archives Vitaly Baryshnikov said, admission to cultural institutions will be free for veterans of the Great Patriotic War.
On May 2 and 7, a rehearsal for the ceremonial procession of units of the Russian Ministry of Defense and law enforcement agencies of the local Irkutsk garrison will take place in Kirov Square.
On May 9, a festive procession of veterans’ organizations and residents of Irkutsk, units of the law enforcement agencies of the Irkutsk local garrison, will proceed along Dekabrskikh Sobytiy Street to the Eternal Flame Memorial, and demonstration performances by officers of the East Siberian Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and the SOBR unit of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Irkutsk Region will be held.