This ancient Siberian city has a rich history. Tourists coming to rest on Lake Baikal like to stay in it. Thanks to the many monuments of Irkutsk, any, even short, stop here leaves a lot of pleasant impressions and memories, as well as the desire to return here again.
Monuments of Irkutsk: photo with description
Once in the historical center of the city, you can see the original sculpture of the Babr, which tenaciously holds the sable with its teeth. This monument has overgrown with a lot of funny stories. Citizens willingly share them. For example, the word “babr” is translated from Yakut as “Ussuri tiger”. Since the end of the 17th century, this animal has been a decoration of the city coat of arms. Two centuries later, one of the officials who did not know about the translation wanted to correct the inaccuracy in the description and replace the letter “a” with the letter “o”. Until 1997, they did not pay attention to the error.
The modern composition (the date of its installation is 2012) is both a striking symbol of Irkutsk and a reminder of that funny oversight. Babr is complemented by the tail of a beaver, webbed feet, but at the same time it is an exact copy of the beast that is depicted on the historical coat of arms. Such is the story of just one of the monuments of Irkutsk.
Gaidai and his heroes
This sculptural composition was cast in bronze. The size of the director’s figure is 3.4 meters, the size of the figures of each of his characters reaches 2.5 meters. Gaidai himself is depicted sitting in the director's chair, on the opposite side of him we see the legendary heroes of his films - Coward, Dunce and Experienced. The monument was erected next to the very school in which the famous director studied.
Monuments to writers
The modern street of the October Revolution (its former name - Governor's Street) welcomes guests and citizens with a monument to A.S. Pushkin, inaugurated in 2010. The authorship of the monument belongs to the national artist of Russia M.V. Pereyaslavts, a famous Russian sculptor, creator of many monuments.
To install the poet’s bust, a granite pedestal was made, one of his famous works was engraved on it - the poem “In the depths of Siberian ores …”. The choice of him, as well as the location of the monument is not accidental. Since the Irkutsk merchant and philanthropist Efim Kuznetsov once lived on this street. It was in his house that the wife of the Decembrist Muravyov made a stop when he got to the Chita prison. With her, she had two Pushkin poems, and one of them was placed on a pedestal.
We list the monuments of Irkutsk, photos with names are also given in this material.
The fate of Alexander Vampilov (Russian playwright and prose writer) is closely intertwined with the city. His homeland is a village located near Lake Baikal, his student life passed in Irkutsk. His first creative works were created as a student, then he came to first fame as an excellent playwright. The scene of the Irkutsk Drama Theater saw his first plays.
A tribute to the playwright is the street and the Theater of the Young Spectator named after him, a motor ship cruising on the lake. Funds for the installation of the monument were raised by the townspeople. The installation date is 2003. The monument was already known to us by M.V. Pereyaslavets. The playwright is depicted in full growth, he stands in a free, laid-back pose. The sculptor portrayed Vampilov as the most ordinary person at that moment when he reflects. The height of the monument is two meters.
