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Irkutsk is a city in Russia, the administrative
center of the Irkutsk region and the Irkutsk region, forms the city
district of Irkutsk. It is the sixth largest city of Siberia with a
population of 623,869 people. (2018). Irkutsk is located in Eastern
Siberia, on the banks of the Angara River, at the confluence of the
Irkut River (hence the name of the city), 66 km from Baikal. The
climate is sharply continental with significant temperature
variations. Due to the proximity to the seismically active Baikal
rift, weak earthquakes are regular.
Irkutsk is a major
research and educational center in which more than one hundred
thousand students study. Among the industries are aircraft
manufacturing, hydropower and food production. Transport hub on the
Trans-Siberian Railway and federal highways "Baikal" and "Siberia".
The ancient Siberian city was founded as a prison in 1661. He
suffered greatly in the fire of 1716. The next major fire in 1879
caused such severe destruction that it took more than 10 years to
fully restore the city.
By plane
1 Irkutsk International Airport (IATA:
IKT). Located in the heart of the city. There are direct flights from
Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen,
Surgut, Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Blagoveshchensk, Chelyabinsk, Chita,
Barnaul and other cities. Main airlines: S7, Aeroflot, UTair, Yakutia,
Pulkovo AP, Angara (local lines), IrAero. International flights are
operated to China (Beijing, Shenyang), as well as to Seoul, Tokyo,
Dushanbe, Tashkent, Osh, Bishkek and Bangkok.
You can get to the city
center by trolleybus 4, buses 3, 80 and 480, fixed-route taxi 20 (it
goes further to the railway station).
By train
2 Irkutsk
railway station. Major station on the Trans-Siberian. Trains run
regularly to many parts of the country. Trains run east to Slyudyanka,
Baikalsk; to the west to Angarsk, Usolye, Cheremkhovo and Zima.
The
city center can be reached by tram 1, 2, 4a, buses 77, 88, fixed-route
taxis 20 (goes to the airport), 16, 64, 99, 417.
By car
The
city can be accessed from the west via the P255 road and from the east
via the P258 road
By bus
3 Bus station, October Revolution,
11. Buses to Bratsk, Ust-Ilimsk, Arshan, Listvyanka, Bolshoe
Goloustnoye, Khuzhir, Sakhyurta (MRS).
There is a bus station at the
railway station, from where you can get to the nearby cities of the
region (Angarsk, Usolye-Sibirskoye, Cheremkhovo, Zima, Slyudyanka, etc.)
Between the 2nd and 3rd entrances of the station there is a stop of
fixed-route taxis to Ulan-Ude.
On the ship
4 River Station,
Marshal Zhukov 98B. In summer, boat trips to Baikal are available
(Listvyanka, Port Baikal, Bolshie Koty, Sandy Bay, Olkhon,
Severobaikalsk, Nizhneangarsk, Ust-Barguzin).
5 River trams. On
Gagarin Boulevard in the summer, river buses operate, carrying out
pleasure trips. The cost of an hour walk is 500 rubles, children under
10 years old - 250 rubles.
You can get to any point of the city by shuttle buses, trolleybuses, trams. The fare in the city is 20 rubles until 20:00 (25 rubles after 20:00) (it is customary to pay at the exit). Tram, trolleybus - 15 rubles (June 2019).
1 Moscow gates. Founded landmark of the lower
embankment, a historical monument, demolished in 1911 and re-created in
2011 for the 350th anniversary of Irkutsk. Initially, the gates were
built in 1813 in honor of the tenth anniversary of the accession to the
throne of Alexander I.
2 Monument to the founders of Irkutsk from
the townspeople.
3 Cathedral of the Epiphany, st. Sukhe-Bator, 1a.
4 White House, Gagarin Boulevard, 24. Built in 1804.
Former home of the Governor General. Currently, the library of the
Irkutsk State University is located here.
5 130th quarter. A
specially created tourist quarter with recreated and restored houses of
the 17th-19th centuries. There are several museums in the quarter, as
well as all the necessary tourist infrastructure - cafes, shops, hotels.
6 The building of the Russian-Asian Bank, st. Lenina, 38. Built in
1912. The building currently houses a clinic.
7 Savior Church. One of
the first stone structures of the city. The existing stone building was
founded in 1706.
8 Znamenskaya Church, st. Angarskaya, 14.
9 Holy
Cross Church, st. Sedova, 1.
10 Savior Transfiguration Church, per.
Volkonsky 1.
11 Girls' Institute of Eastern Siberia, Gagarin
Boulevard, 20. Built in 1861. Currently, the building houses some of the
faculties of Irkutsk State University.
12 The building of the hotel
"Central", st. Lenina, 13. For a long time the Regional Council of Trade
Unions was located in the building, currently there is the Tourism
Agency. The building needs renovation.
13 HPP dam. A large hydrotechnical facility that
functions as an important transport artery of the city and at the same
time - a natural park, about 3 km long, with a massive body, footpaths,
a highway, nearby there are recreational facilities for citizens:
"slabs", beaches, the Angara icebreaker, in winter - rollers.
14
Icebreaker Angara. Picture from a postcard: the Angara icebreaker, which
at the beginning of the 20th century transported passengers of the
railway through Lake Baikal, when the Circum-Baikal Railway had not yet
been built. Now this ship is a museum. The icebreaker is located on the
right bank of the reservoir, near the hydroelectric dam.
15 Children's railway on the island of Yunosti. A small ring
narrow-gauge railway line with small cars, the functions of conductors
and drivers of rolling stock, in addition to adults, are performed by
students of the railway lyceum. The route of movement starts from the
station on the island of Yunost and then basically follows the island of
Konny. Operates in the warm season.
16 Sculpture "Babr". Monument to the mythical beast
babr (resembles a tiger with a beaver's tail), depicted on the coats of
arms of Irkutsk and the Irkutsk region. Here you can take a memorable
photo with the majestic symbol of the city and the region.
17 Monument to the tourist, st. Litvinova, 2.
18 Monument to Leonid
Gaidai. Leonid Gaidai - a famous film director, grew up in Irkutsk from
infancy, lived in house 35 on the street. Kasyanov, graduated from
school in 1941 (now - railway lyceum 36 and went to the front a few
months later), after being wounded, he returned to Irkutsk, where he
graduated from a theater studio, and then continued his studies and
career already in Moscow. The sculpture is located on Labor Square near
the circus building and consists of two compositions. On one of them,
the director himself sits on a chair, next to him is a dog holding a
stick of dynamite in its mouth, tied to a stick (from the movie "Mongrel
Dog and an Unusual Cross Country"). Opposite is a sculpture of popular
characters from Gaidai's films - Coward, Dunce and Experienced, holding
hands, as in the film "Prisoner of the Caucasus". The figure of L.
Gaidai is deliberately made larger than the figures of movie characters.
19 Monument to Alexander III. The monument to Emperor Alexander III was
reconstructed according to old sketches and replaced the spire that
stood on the pedestal until 2003; elements of the pedestal and the fence
around it were also restored. The former sculpture of the emperor and
the attributes of the emperor (crowns from the heads of eagles on a
pedestal, for example) were removed in 1920.
20 Monument to Admiral
Kolchak. The only monument to Admiral Kolchak in Russia is located at
the place of his execution, at the confluence of the Ushakovka River
into the Angara.
21 Monument to Vampilov. Monument to the playwright
A. Vampilov, located in the square near the Okhlopkov Drama Theater
22 Sundial.
In winter, various ice sculptures and even castles are
created in the central park of Irkutsk. Also there you can ride from the
ice slides.
For those who like to take a walk in silence - you
can do it right in the city center - on the island of Yunost and Konny,
along the banks of the Angara. A children's railway also runs along the
Horse Island. On the islands there is a rental of velomobiles,
catamarans. There is a Ferris wheel on Horseback.
For outdoor
enthusiasts, you can rent a bike and go for a drive outside the city.
The forum site Angara.net will tell you where you can go.
Museums
1 Local Lore Museum, Department of History, st. Karl Marx, 2.
2 Local
Lore Museum, department of nature, st. Karl Marx, 11.
3 Local Lore
Museum, museum studio, st. Karl Marx, 13.
4 Local Lore Museum,
exposition department "Window to Asia", st. July 3rd, 21A.
5 Museum
of the history of the city of Irkutsk, st. Frank-Kamenetsky 16A.
6
Museum of urban life, st. December Events, 77A.
7 Irkutsk Regional
Art Museum, st. Lenina, 5.
8 Irkutsk Regional Art Museum - gallery of
Siberian art, st. Karl Marx, 23.
9 Irkutsk Regional Art Museum -
estate of V.P. Sukachev, st. December Events, 112.
10 Experiment,
Lermontova 277a.
11 Museum of the Decembrists, Volonsky house-museum,
per. Volkonsky, 10.
12 Museum of the Decembrists, house-museum of
Trubetskoy, st. Dzerzhinsky, 64. Wed–Mon 10:00–18:00.
Theaters
13 Drama Theatre, st. Karl Marx, 14. The theater building was built in
1897.
14 Theatre of the young spectator named after A. Vampilov, st.
Lenina, 23. Located in the building of the First Public Assembly, built
in 1890.
15 Puppet theater "Aistenok", st. Baikalskaya, 32.
16
Musical Theater named after N.M. Zagursky, st. Sedova, 29.
Cinemas
17 Trade and entertainment complex "Jam Mall", st. Sergeeva,
3. The complex has 6 cinema halls.
18 Cinema "Chaika", st.
Tereshkova, 23. Not working, under reconstruction (2019)
19 Cinema
"Barguzin", st. Baikalskaya, 107.
20 Cinema "Kinokvartal" (in the
building of the shopping center "Modny Kvartal", 5th floor), st. July 3,
25. located in the 130 block in the city center, all types of transport.
4 halls
Routes
A map can be useful for walking around the
city. For smartphones and laptops, there is a free 2GIS map that does
not require Internet access. A paper map of Irkutsk, as well as maps of
Baikal, can be bought at Karla Marksa, 20.
It is convenient to
start a city tour from the Trud stadium (Trud Stadium or Philharmonic
stop). On the square you can see a fountain with illumination, and a
sculpture "Sundial". Nearby is an architectural monument, a building
built in 1890 - the First public meeting, now the Youth Theater.
The 130th quarter (between Sedov and July 3 streets) is a tourist area
with shops, cafes, museums, wooden buildings in the style of the early
20th century. These are all new buildings.
After passing the 130th
quarter, we go towards the intersection of Kozhova and July 3, and move
to the embankment, and to Gagarin Boulevard
On the island of Yunost
(+760 meters) you can see the children's railway
From the railroad
turn right. Having passed the island, we exit through the bridge to the
monument to Tsar Alexander 3 (+870 meters). Here, in addition to the
monument, there are three more attractions:
Gagarin Boulevard, 20.
The former building of the Institute of Noble Maidens. Now the Faculty
of Physics and the Institute of Mathematics and Economics of ISU.
The
White House - the former home of the Governor General, now the ISU
library on Gagarin Boulevard, 24
Museum of Local Lore on Karl Marx, 2
Next we move on to Karl Marx. Walking along this street, do not
forget to turn into other streets! You will see old, wooden Irkutsk. The
real one, not built for tourists.
Drama Theater on Karl Marx, 14
built in 1898
Carefully looking at the buildings, you can see a lot
of interesting things that many locals do not even know about. For
example, a bas-relief of Stalin has been preserved in the city! On the
building of the Eastern Railway on Karla Marksa, 7
Lenina, 38 - a
visiting card of Irkutsk - the former building of the Russian-Asian
Bank, now a clinic. In the backyard of the clinic there is a square with
interesting sculptures: a monument to monkeys, Big Ben.
Lenina, 13 -
the former hotel "Central", which housed the government of Kolchak after
the October Revolution.
If you are already hungry by this point, pay
attention to the Snezhinka cafe on Litvinova, 2. This is the oldest cafe
in Irkutsk, founded in 1961
Near the cafe there is an unusual
monument - a monument to a tourist.
The next intersection is the
Uritsky pedestrian street. A street with more than 100 years of trading
history.
After 750 meters there is a spitting fountain and a museum
of the history of the city of Irkutsk.
Having visited the museum, you
can also pay attention to the Fortuna Grand shopping center (October
Revolution, 1k4), and the bus station (October Revolution, 11), where
you can buy tickets to Baikal.
Beer lovers can visit Harat's pub at
October Revolution, 1
Then we return a little along Karl Marx in
the opposite direction, and along the December Events we move towards
the Lower Embankment.
The main attraction of the Lower Embankment
is the Moscow Gates, a historical monument demolished in 1911 and
re-created in 2011 for the 350th anniversary of Irkutsk. Initially, the
gates were built in 1813 in honor of the tenth anniversary of the
accession to the throne of Alexander I.
Other notable places in
the city include the hydroelectric dam and the Angara icebreaker located
nearby. At the beginning of the 20th century, when the Circum-Baikal
Railway had not yet been built, it carried railway passengers across
Lake Baikal. The ship now houses a museum.
1 Uritskogo street. Shopping street with over 100
years of history. Selling mostly clothes and shoes.
2 Fashion
quarter. A large shopping center in the historical part of the city, in
the 130th quarter. Lots of cafes, restaurants and other attractions
nearby.
3 Autograd Market, October Revolution, 1k2. Auto parts.
4 Elektron Market, October Revolution, 1k1. Household, photographic
equipment.
5 Market Mercury, st. Working, 2A. Shoes.
6 Fortuna
Grand, October Revolution, 1k4. Shoes and clothes.
7 Central market,
st. Litvinova, 17 / st. Chekhov, 22. Shoes and clothes.
8 Cheap
Chinese market Manchuria, Mira, 2. Bargaining is a must! Prices after
trading sometimes fall 5 times.
9 Chinese market in the center.
Pavel Chekotov Square at the crossroads of Baikalskaya and Timiryazev.
The cheapest food is sold in the markets. These are:
the central market, the Melnikovsky market (opposite the Jam Mall on
Sergeeva, 3)
In September-November, you can buy cheap fresh pine
nuts.
The cheapest omul is on Baikal (Kultuk, Slyudyanka,
Listvyanka)
Fresh bread - a bakery shop on Nizhnaya Embankment, 2
and in all KASES stores
High-quality and inexpensive dairy
products in Yanta branded stores
Cafe "Snezhinka", st. Litvinova,
2. Dec 2015 edit
2Harat's pub, October Revolution, 1. Irish pub.
Cheap
Poznaya 38. A network of canteens throughout the city with
national Buryat cuisine (buuzy and bukhler), as well as with popular
dishes of Russian and European cuisine. Mar 2023 edit
Buuza. Cafe
with national Buryat, European cuisine and confectionery.
Expensive
Restaurant "Nomad", st. Gorky.
Average cost
Hotel "Angara".
Expensive
Central Hotel.
There are 6 mobile operators in Irkutsk - the whole "big three" (MTS, Megafon and Beeline) and Tele2, Tinkoff mobile and Iota, there are no regional operators. Irkutsk also has good 4G coverage. Public areas in the city center have free Wi-Fi coverage.
The city's name comes from the Irkut River, near which
Irkutsk Ostrog was founded in 1661. Initially, the prison was called
Yandashsky after the Tuvan leader Yandash Dorogi (Darugi), but this name
did not stick. On the drawing of the cartographer S. U. Remezov, created
in 1701, it is designated as “the city of Irkutsk”.
The hydronym
of the Irkut River has a multi-valued interpretation and is associated
with the Mongol-Buryat words in the meaning of "strength, energy, spin,
spin, turn." According to the most plausible version, the name of the
river is derived from the ethnonym Yrhu, which in the variants irkit,
irgit, irkyt is common among Tuvans and other peoples. In Mongolian, the
river and the city are called Erkhuu, in Buryat - Erkhγγ mγren and
Erkhγγ hoto, respectively, where "mren" is a "big river" and "hoto" is a
"city".
In pre-revolutionary spelling, the spelling of the name
of the city is "Irkutsk". Before the revolution, the locals called the
city "Eastern Paris", "Siberian Petersburg", "Siberian Athens".
In 1931, on the occasion of the visit of People's Commissar of Defense
K. E. Voroshilov, Irkutsk was planned to be renamed Voroshilovsk
On the territory of Irkutsk, sites of the Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Eneolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages were found.
The city starts from the stockade, founded by the detachment of Yakov
Pokhabov on the instructions of the Yenisei governor on July 6 (16),
1661.
A number of researchers attribute the emergence of Irkutsk
to 1620, others believe that in the 1650s there was a permanent winter
hut of Russians on the island of Diachem. The foundation of the Irkutsk
prison was preceded by the exit of the Russians to Baikal in 1643. It
was one of the many prisons in Eastern Siberia set up for the collection
of yasak. The first clerk of the new prison was appointed Cossack
foreman Vasily Ezdakov. By the end of the 1660s, the buildings of the
fort rotted away, and the defensive structure was rebuilt. A ditch was
dug around it, a settlement arose outside the walls. In 1672 the first
wooden church, Spasskaya, was built. In 1682, the fort became the center
of the Irkutsk Voivodeship, uniting all the forts of the Baikal region.
The residence of the voivode becomes the sovereign's court. In 1686,
Irkutsk was given the status of a city.
The men's Ascension
Monastery was founded, in 1689 - the women's Znamensky Monastery.
After the settlement of Russian-Chinese relations by the Nerchinsk
Treaty (1689), trade caravans on their way to China stretched through
Irkutsk. Furs were brought from Siberia, and tea, sugar and fabrics were
brought from China through the Selenga and Baikal. In 1692, N. Witsen's
book "Northern and Eastern Tartaria" was published in Amsterdam, in
which Irkutsk is described as follows:
The city of Irkutsk, located
about eight miles from the coast of the Baikal Sea, was built several
years ago; it is equipped with strong wooden towers and has a large
suburb ... The land there is very fertile, and many Muscovites settled
here ... This area is very prone to many earthquakes ... In the city, in
the fortification, there is the house of the chief, also the armory and
the town hall; the guard is kept in the fortress, but the soldiers live
outside it. In the prison there is a settlement or suburb ...
In
1696, in Irkutsk, there was a rebellion of Transbaikal archers (the
so-called "Rebellion of overseas archers") against the governor Afanasy
Savelov, who set the local population against himself. At this time,
forges, workshops, tanneries, and soap factories were developed. By
1700, about 1000 people lived in Irkutsk, including 409 Cossacks, 110
townspeople, 50 servicemen, 13 boyar children, 2 nobles and others.
In 1701, the first stone building appeared - the command hut.
August 3, 1716 there was one of the major city fires in Irkutsk.
The Irkutsk chronicle says: “On the 3rd of August, a fire broke out
in Irkutsk outside the city, from which the Spassky old cathedral
church in the city, the city wall with towers from the chancellery
to the Spassky stone church and the gostiny yard with customs and
several courtyards burned down.” The fire significantly damaged the
prison structures, which were restored a year later.
In 1701,
a postal communication with Moscow was organized - a yamskaya chase,
using underwater service. In 1719, Irkutsk became the center of the
Irkutsk province as part of the Siberian province. In 1722, the town
hall was opened, a year later it was reorganized into a magistrate.
In 1725, members of the Kamchatka expedition led by V. Bering
visited Irkutsk.
In the 1720s, a Russian-Mongolian school was
formed at the Ascension Monastery, and the use of the official seal
"for applying to the passports issued to the merchants from customs
and from town halls" began. In 1730, the merchant Lanin opened an
ironworks. In 1738, a postal route to Okhotsk was opened. In 1745,
the first stone residential building was built. In 1747, Prokopiev,
a townsman, opened a glass factory and a weaving factory. In the
1750s, a navigation school was established, and the first Old
Believers appeared in the city. The police force was established in
1757. In the 1750s, the Moscow Highway came to Irkutsk.
The
abolition of the tsarist monopoly on the export of furs in 1762
opened the "golden age" of the Irkutsk merchants. The largest
merchant dynasties - the Sibiryakovs, the Basnins, the Trapeznikovs,
the Dudorovskys, the Soldatovs - got rich on the Russian-Chinese
trade, buying up and reselling furs, and preventing nonresident
merchants from accessing the local market. Another source of their
enrichment was participation in the supply of provisions and metal
for state needs, the merchants shared the money received from the
treasury with officials. Many merchant dynasties came from the
Russian North. By the end of the XVIII century, the merchants began
to play a leading role in the civil life of Irkutsk, constituting
the opposition to the state administration. Occupying key positions
in city authorities, merchants gained access to contracts that were
beneficial to them. The traditions of the charitable activities of
merchants were growing stronger, with the funds from which churches,
shelters, hospitals, schools, theaters, and libraries were built and
maintained. The names of famous merchants subsequently began to be
called streets: Basninskaya, Laninskaya, Medvednikovskaya,
Mylnikovskaya, Trapeznikovskaya and others.
In 1764, the
Irkutsk province was formed as part of the Siberian kingdom. In the
1770s, the city fair and bank office were officially opened. In the
1780s, a public library, a theological seminary, a city school, a
college, and a printing house appeared. In 1783, the Irkutsk
governorate was formed under the control of the governor-general. On
January 1 (12), 1787, the city duma was established, the merchant of
the 1st guild M. Sibiryakov was elected mayor, who was re-elected
three times and awarded the title of "eminent citizen" for his
contribution to the development of the city. In 1775, a fire almost
completely destroyed the city center. In 1790, the dilapidated walls
of the prison were dismantled. In 1791, the first political exile to
these places, A. Radishchev, was in Irkutsk for two months,
convicted for publishing Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow. By
the end of the 18th century, the formerly patriarchal Irkutsk began
to take on the appearance of a European city, where culture
developed, modern clothes appeared, most men already cut their hair
short and shaved their beards.
In 1799, with the
participation of the Irkutsk merchant G. Shelikhov, the
Russian-American Company was created. From the middle of the 18th
century, the city began to play the role of the main base of the
Pacific crafts: one of the offices of the RAC, its “American
barracks”, a blacksmith, tar, furrier and spinning factories were
located here. In Irkutsk, trade transactions and supply operations
were carried out, teams of industrialists and sailors were
recruited, many of whom were Irkutsk residents. Residents of the
city owned up to 9% of the company's shares. On the grave monument
of G. I. Shelikhov, Derzhavin's verses are given: "... Do not
forget, descendant, that Ross, your ancestor, is loud in the East."
In 1801, the Krugomorsky tract was opened in Transbaikalia, laid with
the participation of exiles. In the city, hard labor was used in a craft
house and a cloth factory. In 1807, the first hospital was opened with
private funds. In 1812, 566 recruits were sent from Irkutsk to the war
against Napoleon. In 1813, triumphal gates were erected from the side of
the Moscow tract. In 1816, the Irkutsk Cossack army was formed.
Being far from the capital, the local authorities had practically
unlimited power: instructions from above allowed them to "do ...
according to their own discretion, as it is convenient and as God will
enlighten." Back in 1717 and 1736, the Irkutsk voivode L. Rakitin and
vice-governor A. Zholobov were executed for abuses on the ground in St.
Petersburg, and governor-generals I. Jacobi, B. Lezzano and I.
Selifontov were fired at different times. Vice-Governor A. Pleshcheev
was greedy for gifts, Governor F. Nemtsov distinguished himself by
exorbitant bribery. Governor N. Treskin became famous for restoring
order and cleanliness on city streets, reprisals against the merchant
opposition and the expulsion of "harmful members of society." Corruption
flourished during his leadership. In 1819, Governor-General Pestel was
removed from his post, and the Russian reformer Mikhail Speransky was
appointed in his place, who was instructed to "give whom you need a
legitimate judgment" and create "on the spot the most useful device for
this remote region." For 2 years of Speransky's stay in Irkutsk, the
civil governor Treskin was put on trial, about 700 officials involved in
lawlessness were identified.
In 1822, the East Siberian Governor
General was formed with the center in Irkutsk. In 1826, the first exiled
Decembrists arrived in the city. After serving hard labor, S. Trubetskoy
and S. Volkonsky were allowed to settle in Irkutsk. According to the
draft constitution of N. M. Muravyov, Irkutsk was supposed to become the
capital of the Lena State as part of the Russian Federation. In 1836 the
first private bank was opened. In 1839 the first public library was
opened. In the 1840s, Irkutsk turned into the "capital of Lena's gold",
a place of concentration of capital of gold miners. During these years,
the first steamboat arrived in the city, an institute for noble maidens
and a theater were opened.
From 1848 to 1861, Count N. N.
Muravyov-Amursky was the governor-general. He not only annexed the Amur
region to Russia, but also did a lot to strengthen the positions of the
tsarist government throughout the region. Since the opening of the
message along the Amur in 1854, on the way from St. Petersburg to the
Pacific Ocean, the old Yakutsk tract begins to fall into decay. Exiled
Poles arrive in Irkutsk. The population of the city is 28 thousand
people, there were 3768 exiles. In 1864, a telegraph line was brought to
St. Petersburg. In 1866, a trial was held in Irkutsk over 683 Poles who
raised an uprising on Lake Baikal.
On June 22 and 24 (July 6),
1879, a fire broke out in the city, which practically destroyed the
historical center. This event divided the history of the city into
pre-fire and post-fire Irkutsk. The fire killed 11 people, thousands of
people lost their homes. Among other things, the museum and about 10
thousand books of the library of the Geographical Society, as well as
the provincial archive, burned down. Traveler J. Kennan noted that the
city of the 1880s lost a lot and became less interesting than before the
fire. The restoration of the city from the ashes coincided with the
flourishing of the Lena gold industry in the 1870-1880s.
In the
late 1880s, the decline of the gold industry began, the extinction of
the Kyakhta trade. In 1890 A. Chekhov stayed in the city and called
Irkutsk "an intelligent city". In June 1890, Tsarevich Nikolai visited
the city. In 1897, the first film show took place. In 1899, omnibuses
appeared on the streets, the fare for which was set by the Duma.
The railway, according to the original design, was supposed to take a
shorter route north of Lake Baikal, away from Irkutsk. However, the city
passed the fate of Tomsk, and in 1898 the first train along the
Trans-Siberian Railway solemnly arrived in Irkutsk. The railway caused
the emergence of new transport enterprises in the city, revived coal
mining and the timber industry, and contributed to the influx of people.
The beginning of the 20th century was marked by the development of
the revolutionary movement. In April 1903, a railroad strike broke out
at the Innokentyevskaya station, ending in mass arrests. In October
1905, a general strike of workers and employees took place in the city.
On October 19, Governor-General P. Kutaisov telegraphed the tsar: “The
situation is desperate. There are almost no troops. The rebellion is
complete, universal. With the introduction of martial law, open speeches
ceased. In the summer of 1908, the Social Democrats tried to disrupt the
grand opening of the monument to Alexander III, declaring this day a
"black holiday" for tsarist officials. During the First World War, more
than 10 thousand Irkutsk citizens were mobilized. The industrial
enterprises of the pre-revolutionary city were small and were
predominantly handicraft. Most of the population was employed in trade,
services, gardening and handicrafts.
In March 1917, Governor A.
Yugon was removed from his post, Governor-General A. Piltz and the
highest ranks of the police were arrested, and the Governor-General was
abolished. All political prisoners have been released from the
provincial prison. In December 1917, fierce battles between the Red
Guards and the junkers took place near the White House for 9 days, in
which over 300 people died, about 700 were wounded. At the end of the
fighting, Soviet power was temporarily established. On the night of July
11, 1918, the Reds voluntarily left Irkutsk, during the day parts of the
Czechoslovak Corps and the Provisional Siberian Government entered the
city. Civil power temporarily passed to the city duma.
In
November 1919, the Russian government moved to Irkutsk from Omsk,
located in the building of the Russian-Asian Bank. On November 12, 1919,
at the All-Siberian Conference of Zemstvos and cities in Irkutsk, the
Political Center was created, which organized an anti-Kolchak uprising
at the end of 1919. On the night of February 6-7, 1920, Admiral A. V.
Kolchak and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian
government V. N. Pepelyaev were shot without trial, by order of the
Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee of the Bolsheviks, in pursuance
of Lenin's direct order. On March 7, 1920, the Red Army entered the
city, Soviet power was restored.
In 1926, the Irkutsk province
was abolished, and the Irkutsk district was formed as part of the
Siberian Territory. In 1922-1923, Irkutsk was the center of the
Mongolian-Buryat Autonomous Region, since 1930 - the center of the East
Siberian Territory, since 1937 - the center of the Irkutsk Region. In
1923, the first stadium with 2,000 seats was built. In 1936, the first
reinforced concrete bridge named after Lenin was opened across the
Angara. In the 1920s-1950s, a hydroport operated on the Angara. In the
1930s, the construction of an aircraft factory, a metallurgical plant
named after. Kuibyshev, tea-pressing, clothing and pasta factories, a
soap factory and other enterprises. During the Great Patriotic War,
about 20 thousand Irkutsk citizens went to the front, half of whom did
not return. During the war, some enterprises of the western regions of
the country, which remained here after the war, were evacuated to
Irkutsk.
In the 1950s, as part of the implementation of the
Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of January 17, 1955 “On
the recruitment of workers in the People's Republic of China to
participate in communist construction and labor training in the USSR”,
Chinese workers worked at the enterprises and construction sites of the
city.
In 1958, the Irkutsk hydroelectric power station was put
into operation. During this time, the city remained mostly wooden and
one-story. In the 1960s and 1970s, large-scale housing and industrial
construction took place. In 1986, "For the great services of the working
people of Irkutsk in the revolutionary movement, their contribution to
the fight against the Nazi invaders during the Great Patriotic War," the
city was awarded the Order of the October Revolution.
Until the
beginning of the 1990s, Irkutsk remained one of the largest industrial
centers of the RSFSR with high-tech mechanical engineering oriented to
the union market: aircraft building, instrument making, and radio
electronics were developing; as well as the production of metallurgical
and mining equipment, automotive parts and machine tools. Metalworking
production was represented by factories for the repair of railway
rolling stock, river vessels, and aircraft. Other major industries were
the production of building materials, furniture, printing, light and
food industries. Over 40 thousand people were employed at the five
largest factories. In the post-perestroika years, many enterprises of
mechanical engineering and light industry could not fit into the market
conditions, the Radian plants, the machine-tool plant, cardan shafts,
the radio plant, the tea-packing and pasta factories, the house-building
plant, the plant of reinforced concrete products and others ceased to
exist.
Irkutsk is located in Eastern Siberia on the banks of the Angara
River in close proximity to the reservoir formed by the dam of the
Irkutsk hydroelectric power station up to 56 meters high. The nearest
large city is Ulan-Ude, located at a distance of 439 km; the nearest
millionaire city is Krasnoyarsk, 850 km away (in a straight line) and
1060 km by road. The distance to Moscow is 5200 km. Irkutsk is the
antipode of the Chilean Punta Arenas.
Irkutsk is surrounded on
three sides by the Irkutsk municipal district, in the north-west it
borders on the Angarsk municipal district. In the vicinity there are
meadows, pine, pine-birch forests, pine-larch, birch groves. The area of
the city is 27,998 hectares. Urban development occupies 11,950 hectares,
forests - 6350 hectares, water spaces - 2870 hectares, meadows and
floodplains - 4260 hectares. The relief of the city is rugged. The
height of the earth above sea level is from 420 to 550 meters. The
landscape of the city and its environs is a hilly erosion-denudation
plain formed by Jurassic and Quaternary deposits; and belongs to the
forest-steppe zone of the Irkutsk-Cheremkhovskaya plain at the northern
foot of the Sayan Mountains. The main part of Irkutsk stands on the high
floodplain and terraces of the Angara, Irkut, Ushakovka and other
rivers; the outskirts are located on the slopes. Under the influence of
technogenic loads, the number of suffusion-subsidence and erosion
processes has increased in almost all areas of the city.
Specially protected areas include federal lands of the Botanical Garden
of Irkutsk State University, as well as lands of municipal significance:
the relic Kaiskaya Grove, the forest park on Sinyushina Gora, the forest
zone of the Angara resort, the grove of the Novo-Melnikovo microdistrict
and the Academgorodok arboretum. There are over 40 parks and squares
with an area of 360 hectares; the area of flower beds is 9 thousand m².
In total, 1105 species of plants grow in Irkutsk and its environs, 58 of
which are included in the red book of the region. Twelve green areas
with a total area of 5.5 thousand hectares occupy almost 42% of the
city, among them: Plishkinsky forest, Kaiskaya grove, Botanical garden,
Zvezdochka grove, a grove on Sinyushina Gora, the Angara resort area,
Novo-Melnikovo, arboretum of Akademgorodok, areas of Yubileyny,
Ershovsky, Batareynaya and Veresovka stations. Among the park areas: the
park of the Paris Commune, the Thomson Garden, the Kaiskaya Grove, the
Kashtakovskaya Grove, the Tikhvinsky and Kirov Squares, the Konny and
Yunost Islands.
The Angara divides the city into right-bank and left-bank parts. The
length of the river within the city is 29 km, the width under the Old
Angara bridge in the city center is about 300 m, there are over 30
islands on the river. Its left tributary, the Irkut, is the natural
border of the Sverdlovsk and Leninsky districts. Among the small rivers:
Ushakovka, Topka, Veresovka, tributaries of the Irkut - Kaya and Olkha.
The dam of the Irkutsk hydroelectric power station closes the
Irkutsk reservoir. Before the construction of the dam, the area was
constantly flooded by floods and floods, in the 17th century there was a
lake on the site of Kirov Square, and a river flowed on Karl Marx
Street. The construction of the hydroelectric dam led to the fact that
water from the reservoir began to seep around the body of the dam, the
groundwater level rose, especially in the right-bank part of the city.
In the Solnechny microdistrict there is a deposit of mineral waters,
which belongs to the largest Angara-Lena artesian basin on the planet.
Hydrocarbonate-sulfate-chloride sodium water is produced on the
territory of the Angara resort.
Well-maintained embankments
stretch along the right bank of the Angara: the Gagarin Boulevard
embankment with concrete fences was created in the 1960s; The lower
embankment, reconstructed in 2011, consists of two tiers, has forged
fences and parapets lined with granite. There is one sanctioned beach in
Jacobi Bay near the hydroelectric dam. Popular places for spontaneous
bathing include the island of Yunost, the warm lakes of the
hydroelectric power station and the Solnechny microdistrict. Outside the
city, Irkutsk residents go to the Baikal beaches of the Small Sea.
Irkutsk is located on the edge of the relatively safe Siberian
Platform near a seismically active tectonic fault - the Baikal Rift
Zone, and is classified as an area of possible earthquakes with an
intensity of up to 8 points. Shocks with an intensity of 9 points in
Irkutsk are unlikely, since the epicenters of most destructive
earthquakes are located at a distance from the city - in the Baikal
basin and the Eastern Sayan Mountains. The Angarsk tectonic fault passes
under the city in the north-western direction, which is not a source of
major earthquakes of our time. Tsunamis were not observed near Irkutsk.
The hydroelectric dam is able to withstand an earthquake of 8 points.
The human victims of earthquakes in Irkutsk are not known in history.
However, false rumors about an upcoming earthquake regularly pop up in
the city.
On average, 304 earthquakes with an intensity of up to
4 points are recorded annually in Irkutsk. Earthquakes with an intensity
of 6 points on average occur once every 15 years. In 1862, the city felt
8-point shocks of the strongest known earthquake on Lake Baikal -
Tsagansky with an intensity of up to 10 points at the epicenter, which
caused a tsunami wave 2 meters high. Crosses fell from city churches,
bells rang by themselves, ice cracked on the Angara. In the 20th
century, shaking with an intensity of 5 to 7 was recorded in 1903, 1905,
1950, 1957, 1959, 1967, 1995 and 1999. A large earthquake with an
intensity of 6 points occurred on August 27, 2008, and on September 22,
2020, at about half past three in the morning (September 21, 18.30
Moscow time), an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 points occurred
(according to the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency
Situations of Russia for the region: “Earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9
, class 14.7, intensity 8.1, the epicenter in the Slyudyansky district
of the village of Kultuk, in Irkutsk and Slyudyanka - five to six
points").
Irkutsk is in the MSK+5 time zone. The offset of the applicable time from UTC is +8:00. In accordance with the applied time and geographic longitude, the average solar noon in Irkutsk occurs at 13:03.
Due to the remoteness from the seas, the climate of Irkutsk is
sharply continental with significant daily and annual fluctuations in
air temperatures. The difference between summer and winter temperatures
can exceed 70 °C. The average annual solstice is 318 days.
The
negative temperature is set at the end of October (from the 23rd on
average) and lasts until the beginning of April (on the average until
the 6th). Winter is severe, protracted - lasting more than 5 months (end
of October - beginning of April). With the advent of the Siberian
anticyclone, clear, frosty and calm weather sets in. The coldest month
of the year is January, with an average temperature of -17.8°C. Spring
is dry, short; the snow melts at the beginning of April, the positive
temperature is set by the beginning of May. Summer in the first half is
hot and dry, in the second half there are prolonged rains. The warmest
month is July, with an average temperature of 18.3°C. Autumn is warm and
dry; characterized by sharp diurnal temperature fluctuations.
The
city is located in the 2nd frost resistance zone. Permafrost processes
are caused by soil freezing, which begins in late October - early
November and continues until the end of March or mid-April. Soil thawing
usually begins in the first half of April, and in the initial period, a
small layer thaws during the day and freezes at night. In most of the
territory, complete thawing occurs in June-July. The normative depth of
soil freezing is 3-3.5 meters. In winter, the “heat island” effect is
most noticeable, when, due to heated buildings, the average daily air
temperature in the center of Irkutsk is 1–2 °C higher than outside it.
The growing season lasts an average of 148 days a year. The frost-free
period is 95 days. The average daily air temperature is above 0 °C for
200 days. The warm season (May-September) accounts for 78% of all
precipitation, while the cold season accounts for 22%. The average
annual wind speed is 2.1 m/s. The greatest number of windy days occurs
in spring and autumn. The average annual air humidity is moderate - 72%.
The absolute maximum of annual precipitation was recorded in 1938 at the
level of 797 mm, the absolute minimum - in 1884 at the level of 209 mm.
The non-freezing polynya of the Angara - the downstream of the HPP
causes regular fogs in the autumn-winter period, an increase in air
humidity in the coastal zone, and, as a result, frost on the trees. The
influence of the upstream water reservoir is of a local nature.
The main pollutants of the atmospheric air in Irkutsk are vehicle
emissions (60% of emissions) and thermal power sources that are not
equipped with filters (38% of emissions); manufacturing plants account
for about 2% of all emissions. The average annual concentrations of
benzpyrene in 2010 exceeded the permissible norm by 10 times, nitrogen
oxide by 1.1 times, suspended solids by 2 times, and formaldehyde by 6
times. During the period 2005-2009, there was an increase in the average
annual concentrations of suspended solids, benzpyrene, formaldehyde,
copper, nitrogen dioxide and oxide. The most polluted territories
include part of the center and microdistricts of Novo-Lenino and
Irkutsk-II; the least polluted and quiet are the Ershovsky and Raduzhny
microdistricts, as well as the banks of the Angara from Yunost Island to
the hydroelectric dam and the site near Akademgorodok.
Emissions
of pollutants into the atmosphere from stationary and mobile sources in
2011 amounted to 143 thousand tons. In terms of emissions of pollutants
into the atmosphere from stationary sources in 2010, Irkutsk ranked 15th
among Russian cities with the most unfavorable environmental situation.
In 2010, there were 196 enterprises emitting 69 pollutants into the
atmosphere. 94% of all emissions from stationary sources come from
combustion products (coal and fuel oil tar, benzpyrene, carbon monoxide,
nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide). The largest contribution to air
pollution from stationary sources is made by thermal power plants - 69%.
The main stationary sources of air pollution include: Novo-Irkutsk CHPP
(40 thousand tons of emissions per year), Baikalenergo (6 thousand tons)
and the Irkutsk Aviation Plant (5 thousand tons). In terms of air
emissions from stationary sources, Irkutsk accounts for 10% of all
emissions in the region (for comparison, Angarsk - 33%, Bratsk - 21%).
The main wastewater discharges into the Angara are produced by the
Irkutsk Aviation Plant, Baikalenergo and the city's water utility, and a
furniture factory into the Irkut River.
The main source of
negative impact on plants and soil cover is an increased level of
atmospheric air pollution, especially sulfur dioxide and heavy metal
aerosols. There is a high content of fluorine in the soils, distributed
by the aluminum plant in Shelekhov. According to the results of a survey
of the soils of the city and its environs in 1997, the soils of this
area were classified as a permissible pollution category. The
electromagnetic background of the urban environment exceeds the
permissible level in 40% of cases. There are also several
enterprises-users of radionuclide substances on the territory of the
city.
The negative environmental factors include drinking water
in the years. Irkutsk, Shelekhov. Water in the water supply of these
cities and suburban villages comes from the Ershov water intake in the
Irkutsk reservoir, that is, practically from the lake. Baikal. Despite
its purity, the water is characterized by a very low mineralization,
according to this indicator, Baikal water is close to distilled [source
not specified 709 days]. The constant use of this water in food leads to
the development of a disease such as osteoporosis in humans. There are
several projects to bring the Irkutsk tap water to the levels required
by GOSTs, but none of them has yet been implemented due to lack of
funding.
“Well-maintained yards are also in the past: groves and
flower beds have been replaced by asphalt, parked cars and garages.
There is a problem not only ecological, but also social. […] Currently
(2011), according to experts from the ISU Botanical Garden, there are
about 4 m² of public green space per one Irkutsk citizen (the official
figure is 6.2), while the urban planning norms and rules of the Russian
Federation establish a standard of at least 16 .5 m². Moreover, this
indicator was developed for the European part of the country, but in the
conditions of the harsh climate of Siberia, the provision of greenery -
as well as housing, by the way - should reach at least 20 "squares".
According to the charter of the city of Irkutsk, adopted by the Duma
of Irkutsk on May 20, 2004, local governments include: the head of the
city - the mayor, the administration, the city duma and the Chamber of
Control and Accounts.
The highest official of the city is the
mayor: he heads the city administration, is elected by the City Duma
from among its members for a period of five years by open voting by a
two-thirds majority of the established number of deputies of the City
Duma. The powers of a city Duma deputy elected mayor of the city are
terminated.
In 1994-1997 Boris Govorin held the post of mayor of
Irkutsk.
In 1997-2009 Mayor of Irkutsk was Vladimir Yakubovsky.
The mayor from March 14, 2010 to March 26, 2015 was Viktor Ivanovich
Kondrashov; an entrepreneur and since 2008 a member of the Legislative
Assembly of the Irkutsk region, elected on the party list of the Irkutsk
regional branch of the Communist Party. In March 2010, he resigned as a
deputy in connection with the victory in the election of the mayor of
Irkutsk, where he won 64% of the vote with a voter turnout of 33.5%.
After the victory, he joined the United Russia party. In the elections
to the Legislative Assembly in 2018, he became a deputy from the
Communist Party of the Russian Federation in single-mandate constituency
No. 5.
From March 28, 2015 to March 17, 2020, the mayor of the city
of Irkutsk was Dmitry Viktorovich Berdnikov, who became a deputy of the
Duma of the city of Irkutsk in the 2014 elections through
self-nomination. From 1991 to 1993 he was the director of the plant
"Baikalinterplast".
Currently, the position of mayor of the city
since April 30, 2020 is occupied by Bolotov Ruslan Nikolaevich
The representative body is the City Council. Consists of 35 deputies
elected in single-mandate electoral districts for a term of 5 years. The
seats in the Duma of the VI convocation, elected in 2014, were
distributed as follows: 27 deputies from United Russia, 6 self-nominees,
1 deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, 1 deputy
from the Civic Platform. At the by-elections to the Duma of the city of
Irkutsk in the 18th district (instead of Dmitry Viktorovich Berdnikov,
who became the mayor of the city of Irkutsk), a deputy from A Just
Russia was elected. Since April 30, 2015, Irina Vsevolodovna Yezhova has
been the Chairman of the Duma of the city of Irkutsk of the sixth
convocation since April 30, 2015.
In the 2011 State Duma
elections in Irkutsk, 25.6% of voters voted for United Russia, 31% for
the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, 39.8% of voters voted for
United Russia in the 2016 State Duma elections, and 24% for the
Communist Party .05%.
According to the charter of the Irkutsk
region, Irkutsk is the administrative center of the Irkutsk region. The
Federal Arbitration Court of the East Siberian Arbitration District, the
East Siberian Transport Prosecutor's Office, the East Siberian
Departments of the Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Internal
Affairs for Transport are also deployed in Irkutsk.
According to the Law "On the administrative-territorial structure of
the Irkutsk region", the city is divided into the following
administrative-territorial formations - 5 districts: Kirovsky,
Kuibyshevsky, Leninsky, Oktyabrsky, Sverdlovsky districts.
According to the charter of the city, the municipal formation of the
city of Irkutsk is divided into 4 administrative districts, which are
not administrative-territorial formations of the region, but were
created for the administrative management of the respective territories
and may include several districts of the city of Irkutsk.
The
city's districts are governed by mayor-appointed chairs of district
management committees who are also deputy mayors. The natural border
between the districts runs along the rivers Angara, Irkut and Ushakovka;
the border of the Pravoberezhny and Oktyabrsky districts runs mainly
along the streets. At different times, the city swallowed up the
villages of Veresovka, Battery, Ermakovskiy, Bokovo, Zhilkino,
Parfenovka, Iskra, named after Kirov, Melnikovo, Selivanikha,
Cheryomushki, Titovo, Kuzmikha.
The historical, administrative
and business center is located in the Pravoberezhny district (110,759
people), formed in 1996 at the merger of the Kirov and Kuibyshev
districts. Other large planning zones are the suburbs of Znamenskoye
(the old name of Marat), Rabocheye, Radishchevo, and the Maratovsky
industrial hub.
Oktyabrsky District (149,469 people) is an area of
modern residential development. The district has an airport and an
Eastern industrial hub.
The Sverdlovsk District (202,231 people)
forms the Glazkovo and Studgorodok planning zones in the north;
Akademgorodok, the Primorsky, Yubileiny, Yuzhny microdistricts and the
settlements of Energetikov and hydroelectric power stations in the
south, the Pervomaisky, Universitetsky, Sinyushina Gora microdistricts,
the Melnikovsky industrial hub in the west. The Irkutsk hydroelectric
power station, Novo-Irkutsk thermal power station, Irkutsk-Passenger
railway station are located in the district.
The Leninsky district
(154,805 people) is formed by the districts of Irkutsk-II, Novo-Lenino,
Zhilkino. In the district there are Severny and Zhilkinsky industrial
hubs, an aircraft plant and the Irkutsk-Sortirovochny railway station.
On April 30, 2015, the deputies of the Duma of Irkutsk approved a new
structure of the administration of Irkutsk, according to which the city
is divided into only three urban districts: Central (which includes only
the Kirov district), Pravoberezhny (includes the Kuibyshev and
Oktyabrsky districts) and Left-bank (includes the Sverdlovsk and
Leninsky districts).
However, already on October 8, 2015, the
city returned to its former administrative division into four districts
- Pravoberezhny, Oktyabrsky, and Leninsky. The corresponding decision
was made by the deputies of the Duma of the regional center. According
to the then mayor of the city, Dmitry Berdnikov, it was necessary to
maintain the usual division for the comfort of Irkutsk residents.
In Irkutsk, the offices of the East Siberian Railway, Irkutskenergo, Vostsibugol, Irkutsk Oil Company are located; the main office of the Baikal Bank of Sberbank of Russia. The research center "Irgiredmet" provides support in the extraction and processing of metal ores and diamonds.
Irkutskenergo is the largest energy company in Russia: it combines 3
hydroelectric power plants of the Angara cascade with a capacity of 9
GW, thermal power plants with a capacity of 3.9 GW, as well as coal
mines and district heating networks. Part of the Rusal group. The
Irkutsk HPP generates 4.1 billion kWh per year and employs about 150
people. The company "Vostsibugol" is the largest producer and supplier
of hard and brown coal in the region of 6 coal mines; part of
Irkutskenergo.
The leading industrial enterprise is the Irkutsk
Aviation Plant, which gave the name to the current Russian aircraft
building corporation Irkut. The plant manufactures military and civil
aviation aircraft, in particular, export combat aircraft Su-30 and
combat training aircraft Yak-130. Produces components for the Airbus
A320 aircraft and launches the production of the Russian medium-haul
aircraft MS-21. The company employs about 12 thousand people. The
Irkutsk plant of heavy engineering manufactures gold mining, mining and
processing and metallurgical equipment. There are about 700 people in
the state. The Irkutsk Relay Plant is an enterprise of the
military-industrial complex that manufactures switching equipment. In
the field of production of building materials, large companies operate
the Irkutsk Prefabricated Reinforced Concrete Plant and the Irkutsk
Ceramic Plant. The Irkutsk Plant of Road Machines produces equipment for
road repair and snow removal.
The food industry is represented by
the Irkutsk Oil and Fat Plant, the Irkutsk Meat Company and the Irkutsk
Dairy Plant, the Irkutsk Bakery, the Angara Confectionery Factory, and
the Heineken Baikal Brewery Brewery, a branch of the Heineken Company.
In 2011, there were 994 shops, 13 retail markets, 65 shopping
centers, 302 kiosks and 622 trade pavilions; retail trade turnover
amounted to 102.3 billion rubles. The level of consumer prices in
Irkutsk is 3% higher than in Russia as a whole, and higher than in
Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk.
Supermarket chains: Centavr, which
owns 30 SPAR and Caesar supermarkets, Mayak owns 69 Slata supermarkets
and 49 Khleb-Sol supermarkets, Sibirskaya Kompaniya owns 10 Bagira
supermarkets, Hypermarkets: METRO , Tape, OK. There are 877 catering
establishments, including 55 restaurants. Fast food chains have been
opened under the international brands Subway, Papa Johns, KFC, Broster
Food and others.
The largest wired Internet operators: MTS, Rostelecom, Business
Network - Irkutsk, Megapolis-Telecom, Irknet-Telecom, Sibtelecom,
Baikal-Telecom, Orient-Telecom, Svyaztranzit and Dom.ru. In 2011, free
Wi-Fi began to appear in crowded places in the city.
Fixed
telephone services are provided by more than 20 operators, including
Rostelecom, Sibtelecom, Payphone and others. The number of landline
telephone numbers is 221,000, including 173,000 residential telephones.
Mobile communications are represented by cellular operators MegaFon,
MTS, BeeLine, TELE2, Tinkoff Mobile.
Inbound tourism in Irkutsk is mainly of a transit nature on the way
to Baikal. Foreign tourists stay in the city for an average of 1.5-2
days, most of them are travelers from China, Germany and Japan. 70% of
the tourist flow falls on the summer season, the peak load is during the
Baikal Economic Forum in September. In the 1980s, over 40,000 foreigners
visited the city every year.
The number of rooms in hotels and
similar accommodation facilities in 2011 amounted to 3.9 thousand beds.
There are 72 tour operators. The tourism sector employs 23.4 thousand
people. From international level hotels, a four-star hotel of the
Marriott network, as well as a three-star Ibis hotel, has been opened.
The average annual occupancy of hotels does not exceed 40%.
The
tourist exhibition "Baikal-Tour" is held annually. Sanatorium-resort
treatment is provided by the Angara resort, the Irkut sanatorium, the
pulmonary tuberculosis Sinyushina Gora and the children's Snowdrop. The
Taltsy architectural and ethnographic museum is located in the vicinity
of the city.
A four-lane federal highway "Baikal" M53 M55 AH6 Novosibirsk - Chita
passes through the city through the left bank of the Angara. Regional
highways P418 leave from the right bank to the village of Ust-Ordynsky,
along the Aleksandrovsky tract - to Ust-Uda, along the Baikal tract - to
Listvyanka. To the west in the direction of Shelekhov there is a bypass
of Irkutsk. Until 2020, it is planned to create ring roads inside and
outside the city.
Transport crossings through the Angara pass
along the hydroelectric dam and three bridges - Glazkovskiy in the
center, built according to the design of the Moscow architect I.
Frantsuz, as well as Innokentievskiy and Academic. The railway bridge
crosses the Irkut River. There are several underground pedestrian
crossings and two elevated ones. In 2008, foreign cars accounted for 66%
of the fleet of all cars. In 2012, 208 thousand cars were registered in
the city. In 2011, 78 people died on the roads of the city.
River
transport on both sides of the hydroelectric dam on the Angara, which
does not have locks, is represented by two river stations: the Raketa
station above the dam for sightseeing tours towards Baikal and the river
station in the city center for communication along the Angara below the
dam. From June to September, passenger boats run regularly to Bratsk and
Bolshie Koty. From the river port on the outskirts of Marat, the East
Siberian River Shipping Company carries out cargo transportation of
Cheremkhovo coal, timber and building materials to Makariev.
Public transport of the city is represented by the municipal
enterprises "Irkutskavtotrans" and the tram and trolleybus
"Irkutskgortrans", 235 private carriers.
The municipal bus fleet
consists of 182 buses, including 101 large-capacity buses and 81
medium-capacity buses. In addition to the bus station, there is a bus
station in the remote neighborhood of Novo-Lenino.
There are 98
city bus, eleven trolleybus and seven tram routes.
In 2009, 1,400
private buses and minibuses served the bus lines; which transported 49%
of the total volume of passengers, municipal transport - 51% of
passengers.
The tram appeared in 1947. 7 routes with a total
length of 66 km cover mainly the right bank of the Angara, including the
center, connecting it with the left bank with a line to the railway
station and Studgorodok. 37 trams on the lines carry more than 70
thousand passengers daily.
The trolleybus appeared in 1970. 11
routes connect remote areas with the center, except for the Leninsky
district. There are 55 trolleybuses on the line every day. Since June
2016, an autonomous trolleybus has been launched in test mode to the
suburb of Irkutsk, the village of Molodyozhny, Irkutsk region.
Regular taxi services are provided by more than 100 taxi companies.
Depreciation of the rolling stock of municipal passenger transport
in 2011 amounted to: trolleybuses - 12%, buses - 42%, trams - 86%.
Irkutsk is a railway junction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the
location of the East Siberian Railway. The city has two stations - at
the Irkutsk-Passenger and Irkutsk-Sortirovochny stations, where all
passenger trains stop. Freight trains bypass the main part of the city
along the Irkutsk-Sortirovochny-Goncharovo detour. Within the city there
are also stations Kaya, Military town, Battery and 8 stopping points.
The railway station of Irkutsk-Passenger station is an architectural
monument, it was rebuilt in 1907, there is a reconstruction project. The
station handles about 8,000 commuter and long-distance train passengers
per day. Tourist trains "Circum-Baikal Express" and "Baikal Cruise"
(until 2012) depart from the station to travel along the Circum-Baikal
Railway from Kultuk station to the final station of Port Baikal.
Suburban communication is carried out in two directions: Angarsk to the
northwest to Zima and Shelekhovsky to the southwest to Slyudyanka.
Electric trains are also used as intercity transport. In the long term,
until 2030, it is planned to create a high-speed traffic between Irkutsk
and Krasnoyarsk.
Irkutsk Airport has been operating since 1933
(international status since 1954), located within the city, 5 km from
the center. It operates regular and charter flights to many cities in
Russia, Europe and Asia, as well as regional flights to the northern
regions of the region. Passenger traffic in 2011 amounted to 1.26
million people. Local airlines are based at the airport: IrAero operates
flights within Russia, and Angara operates flights around the region and
to nearby regions. In the Leninsky district, on the territory of the
aircraft plant, there is a test airfield Irkutsk-2. The construction of
the Irkutsk-Novy airport, 24 km northeast of the city, has been
postponed indefinitely due to a lack of federal funding and
inconsistencies in terms of land selection. During the period from 1952
to 2006, more than 20 air crashes occurred in the city and near it, for
which Irkutsk gained fame as the “city of falling planes”. Major
incidents include the crash of an An-124 cargo plane that crashed into
residential buildings in 1997, and an A-310 passenger plane that broke
through a concrete fence during landing in 2006.
The municipal order for the current maintenance of roads is carried out by the municipal enterprise Irkutskavtodor. About 2.1 million m³ of solid waste is generated per year. The landfill for solid domestic waste has an area of 47 hectares, located on the 5th km of the Aleksandrovsky tract. The removal of household waste is carried out by the companies Regional operator for the treatment of MSW RT-NEO Irkutsk, MUP "Spetsavtokhozyaystvo", the companies "Peter and Company", "Clean City" and others. There is no gas distribution system in the city. The kerosene pipeline Angarsk - Irkutsk airport runs along the right-bank periphery of the city. Construction of the Chikanskoye gas condensate field – Sayansk – Irkutsk gas pipeline is planned for 2014. In the market of services for the management of apartment buildings, management companies occupy 79%, homeowners associations - 18%. An important economic role in the life of Irkutsk is played by the Angara, which supplies the city with water, heat, electricity, and at the same time is a sewage receiver.
Sources of power supply - Irkutsk hydroelectric power station and
Novo-Irkutsk thermal power station. Electricity is supplied to consumers
from four 220 kV substations, twenty-three 110 kV substations and twelve
35 kV substations. The main supplier of electricity is the Irkutsk
Energy Retail Company. The networks are serviced by Southern Electric
Networks. Tariffs for the population remain relatively low (82 kopecks
per kWh in the 2nd half of 2014).
Sources of heat supply:
Novo-Irkutsk CHPP, more than 100 boiler houses, about 40 electric boiler
houses. In total, 475 km of heating networks are in operation. The
production of electricity and heat accounts for up to 88% of solid fuel
and about 13% of fuel oil. At the beginning of 2010, 30% of heating
networks were in dilapidated condition, the life of most networks
exceeded the age of 25-30 years. There are three centralized heat supply
systems in the Leninsky District - boiler houses in the Novo-Lenino,
Irkutsk-II and Zhilkino districts. The rest of the districts receive
heat from the Irkutsk CHPP. The suburbs of Rabocheye and Radishchevo are
heated by quarterly boiler houses. The heating season starts on
September 15 and lasts 240 days.
Centralized water supply has existed since 1904. Municipal Unitary
Enterprise "Industrial Administration of Water Supply and Sewerage"
provides the population and enterprises with drinking water, carries out
water disposal and wastewater treatment. The main source of water supply
is surface water from the Irkutsk reservoir within the city, from which
water is taken by 2 units - "Ershi" and "Construction No. 1". The main
water intake - Ershovsky was opened in 1971, located in the area of
Ershovsky Bay, 2 km from the hydroelectric dam, capacity - 210
thousand m³ / day, operator - MUP "PU VKH". The water intake disinfects
water with chlorine and supplies it to the networks of Irkutsk and
Shelekhov. "Construction No. 1" with a capacity of 270 thousand m³ / day
is installed in the body of the dam of the Irkutsk hydroelectric power
station, it supplies water to the Novo-Irkutsk thermal power plant. In
the microdistrict Zelenoye, there is a water intake of the Ushakovskoye
groundwater deposit with a capacity of up to 5 thousand m³ / day. The
length of water supply networks is 728 km, 50% of which were completely
worn out in 2010. 46% of the total volume sold falls on the population,
34% - energy enterprises, 12% - industrial enterprises, 8% - public
utility organizations. Baikal drinking water is characterized by low
hardness and low mineralization: the absence of iron, zinc and copper.
Centralized sewerage in the city appeared in 1955. The sewerage
system is subdivided into the left-bank (288 thousand m³/day) and
right-bank basins (223.5 thousand m³/day). The length of sewer networks
is 714.8 thousand meters, of which 47% at the beginning of 2010 were
completely worn out. Treatment facilities receive 472 thousand m³/day
(with a design capacity of 150 thousand m³/day). The storm sewer system
is decentralized, developed mainly in the central part of the city and
in the Oktyabrsky district, it receives 73% of the total water flow. The
length of the collectors in 2010 was 62 km, 30% of the collectors were
in disrepair; there were 56 organized releases, including 39 on the
banks of the Angara. As of the end of 2011, a quarter of all city sewage
was discharged into the Angara without treatment.