IRKUTSK

We arrived in the splendid 19th century railway station at Irkutsk, the principal city of eastern Siberia, at 8 a.m. and hopped on a tram to find the Irkutsk Downtown Hostel. Friendly if a bit cramped…

After investigating the trains for our next leg, we went out to explore. The city is full of old wooden houses, again many in disrepair – but then, so is much of the more recent soviet era housing! The churches on the other hand are all beautifully looked after. The cathedral is being refurbished and an artist was working, like Michaelangelo in the Sistine chapel, painting the walls and ceilings with traditional icon-style figures. I say the cathedral; it is really a large, relatively new church (19th C?) which has been raised to the dignity of cathedral. We went to an older church nearby and saw a model of central Irkutsk as it used to be, with a large and magnificent cathedral at the head of the square. There was also a colour air photo, which must have been taken around 1970 to judge by the cars, of the old cathedral. On the site now is the District Administration building – see picture. The little dome in front is all that remains…

The churches still surprise us, firstly by their size and shape. They are relatively small compared to Anglican or RC churches; then there are no chairs since everyone stands throughout the service (we have witnessed a couple), which means less room is needed. But most striking is that they are much wider than long, usually only one ‘aisle’, although occasionally two. The east end is a wall covered in icons (the iconostasis) with a door leading through to the altar placed in the apse, which is only opened during services. Many of the beautiful images, candle-sticks and other trappings are obviously old and one wonders how they survived 70 years of state atheism – and also how much was lost.

We found a historical museum in an unusual 18th C Arab-style brick building. Irkutsk started as a fur-trading fort in the 1660’s, and the parallel with Victoria, Vancouver, 200 years later was remarkable! Unfortunately the Decembrist museum was closed for repairs (look up the Decembrists on the net if you want to know more!) Upstairs was a section on military history with lots on the World Wars and the Revolution. 20,000,000 Russians died in WW II – 1,000,000 in the Defence of Stalingrad alone.

Magda thoroughly enjoyed visiting the colourful market with its mixture of faces from different races and marked by their lives, especially those over 40 whose lives have been hard. There are a lot of young people drinking (or drunk) in the streets – the beer flows like water, partly as a result of the policy to get people to drink beer rather than vodka! The influence of western consumerism is evident especially in the children. There are all kinds of cars and public transport from bicycles to “SUVs”.
The splendid 'White House' of 1804. The sign says it was used by the soviets in 1917 when organising the new state, but does not mention that it was originally the governor's palace in imperial times!
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Llegamos a la esplendida estacion de ferrolcarriles (siglo 19) de Irkutsk , ciudad principal de la Siberia oriental, a las 0800, y tomamos un tram al hostal: Irkutsk Downtown Hostel. Acogedor, si bien un poco apretado …

Despues de investigar los trenes para la proxima pata del viaje, salimos a explorar. La ciudad esta llena de antiguas casas de madera, tambien muchas cayendose – al igual de algunas casas mas modernas! Las iglesias, por otro lado, estan muy bien cuidadas. Estan reparando la cathedral – vimos a un pintor trabajando, parecia Michaelangelo en la Capilla Sistina. Digo catedral; es una iglesia grande del siglo 19 (?) a la cual le han subido de grado. Visitamos otra iglesia antigua y encontramos una maqueta del centro de Irkutsk tal como estaba, con una cathedral grande y magnifico en la punta de la plaza. Habia ademas una foto aerea en color, supongo de alrededor de 1970, de la cathedral antigua. El sitio ahora esta ocupado por el edificio de la Administracion del Distrito – ver foto. La pequena cupola es todo lo que queda …

Nos sorprenden todavia las iglesias, por su tamano y su forma. Son relativamente chicas y no hay sillas, ya que uno queda de pie durante el oficio. Pero lo mas raro es que son mas anchas que largas. Sobre la pared oriental se exponen los iconos (el iconostasis), y el altar se encuentra en el apsdide detras de una puerta, la cual se abre solo para el oficio.

Encontramos un museo historico en un edificio descomunal de estilo arabe, del siglo 18. Irkutsk empezo en los 1660 como fuerte para el comercio de las pieles – igual a Victoria, Vancouver, 200 anos mas tarde! Desafortunadamente, el museo Decembrista estaba cerrado.

Magda disfruto del Mercado lleno de colores y de una mezcla de razas, las caras marcadas por la vida, en especial la gente de los 40 por arriba. Muchos jovenes tomando (y borrachos) en la calle – la cerveza corre como el agua, ya que han prohibido el consumo de vodka en publico! La influencia occidental/consumista evidente sobre todo en los ninos. Autos y transporte publico de todosn los tipos desde las bicicletas hasta los 4x4 modernos.