Дореволюционная Россия на фотографиях - Иркутск
Here I present an album of Pre-Revolutionary photographs of the Siberian city of Irkutsk.
In the early 19th century, many Russian artists, officers, and nobles were sent into exile in Siberia for their part in the Decembrist revolt against Tsar Nicholas I. Irkutsk became the major centre of intellectual and social life for these exiles, and much of the city's cultural heritage comes from them; many of their wooden houses, adorned with ornate, hand-carved decorations, survive today, in stark contrast with the standard Soviet apartment blocks that surround them..... I was here in 2008 and was surprised to see how much of the pre-revolutionary buildings survive to this day.
![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KQQ6kxQQREY/maxresdefault.jpg)