In Irkutsk, Bograd Street was officially renamed Chudotvorskaya, the mayor signed the order on May 26. The city also got Count Speransky Square, a stop of the same name near the Angara hotel, and Tikhvinsky Square, linked to historical place names and the memory of the Chudotvorskaya church.
The mayor, today, May 26, signed a decree under which Bograd Street has been renamed Chudotvorskaya, reports Alexander Gimelshtein, director of the Irkutsk Regional Art Museum and chairman of the city toponymy commission.“The new building of the city perinatal center faces Chudotvorskaya Street, so I hope the traditional ‘Maternity Hospital on Bograd’ will be called ‘Maternity Hospital on Chudotvorskaya,’ which is much more touching,” Gimelshtein comments on the decision made by the administration.
This same document contains a number of other innovations: the area in front of the regional government building is now named Count Speransky Square, the bus stop near the Angara Hotel bears the same name as the square, and the square next to the VostSibUgol building is designated as Tikhvinsky.
“Count Speransky Square on the city maps has remained nameless until now, as has the square, which received its name in memory of the destroyed church, Tikhvinsky,” said the chairman of the city toponymy commission.
Background: in 1703, the first wooden church in Irkutsk was built in honor of Saints Procopius and John, the Wonderworkers of Ustyug. In 1741, a stone Chudotvorskaya Church was founded with funds from an Irkutsk merchant. The street was named Chudotvorskaya after the church. In the 1930s, the church was closed, then demolished, and the street was renamed in honor of the revolutionary and Bolshevik Yakov Bograd.