Things to do in Irkutsk
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Bogoyavlensky Cathedral
The fairy-tale ensemble of the Bogoyavlensky Cathedral's restored salmon, white and green towers add a colourful dazzle to the otherwise rather grimy riverfront.
reviewed
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Figaro Pizza
The most authentic pizzeria in town is Figaro Pizza.
reviewed
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Blinnaya
The prefect place for a quick pancake break.
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Volkonsky House-Museum
A short walk behind the pretty pink Preobrazheniya Gospodnya Church then through big heavy gates is the Volkonsky House-Museum. It’s the preserved home of Decembrist Count Sergei Volkonsky, whose wife Maria Volkonskaya cuts the main figure in Christine Sutherland’s book The Princess of Siberia. The mansion is set in a courtyard with stables, barn and servant quarters (beware of the dog). Downstairs is an (over-) renovated piano room; upstairs is a photo exhibition including portraits of Maria and other 1820s women who romantically followed their husbands and lovers into exile. Labels are only in Russian but a R70 English-language pamphlet tells the stories.
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Znamensky Monastery
Set in a leafy garden behind a noisy traffic circle, the 1762 Znamensky Monastery is 1.5km northeast of the Bogoyavlensky Cathedral. Echoing with mellifluous plainsong, the interior has splendidly muralled vaulting, a towering iconostasis and a gold sarcophagus holding the miraculous relics of Siberian missionary St Inokent.
Celebrity graves outside include that of Grigory Shelekhov, the man who claimed Alaska for Russia. White-Russian commander Admiral Kolchak was executed by Bolsheviks near the spot where his statue was controversially erected in November 2004 at the entrance to the monastery grounds, on a plinth that's exaggeratedly high enough to reduce vandalism.
reviewed
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Angara Steamship
Moored near the Angara Dam, the Angara Steamship is an ice-breaker ferry originally imported in kit form from England to carry Trans-Siberian Railway passengers across Lake Baikal (the trains went on her bigger sister ship Baikal, which sank years ago). Officially closed to visitors, the ship is currently used as drinks storage for a nearby summer café, but the impressive engines still work, as you might see, should the café owner decide to befriend you.
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Angaram Ice-Breaker
Some 6km southeast of the centre, the 1956 Angara Dam is 2km long. Moored nearby, the Angara Ice-breaker was originally imported in kit form from Newcastle-upon-Tyne to carry Trans-Siberian Railway passengers across Lake Baikal (the trains went on her bigger sister ship Baikal, which sank years ago). The steamer is now a less-than-inspiring museum reached by a permanent gangway.
reviewed
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Art Gallery
The grand old Art Gallery has a valuable though poorly lit collection ranging from Mongolian thangkas (Buddhist religious paintings) to Russian Impressionist canvases. Behind a photogenic 1909 facade its sub gallery is strong on Siberian landscapes and petroglyph rubbings and has some superb 17th-century icons.
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Regional Museum
Irkutsk’s pleasant, if fairly standard, Regional Museum is within a fancy 1870s brick building that formerly housed the Siberian Geographical Society, a club of Victorian-style gentlemen-explorers. The small gift shop is good for birch-bark boxes and jewellery made from purple chaorite, a unique Siberian mineral.
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Korchma
Home-cooked traditional Russian food in a one-room cottage restaurant. It’s set amid other more-genuine Siberian log homes which have so far survived development pressures. Meals are presented on two-tone ceramics while an accordionist accompanies a costumed folk singer (R50 to R100 cover). There’s a 10% service charge.
reviewed
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Akvarium Nerpy
Nessie and Tito, two much-loved nerpa (freshwater seals), live at Akvarium Nerpy and perform 'shows' every half-hour with no minimum attendance. Unlike some small 'zoos' elsewhere, the experience is positive and relatively humane. Feats include 'singing' (nasal flatulence?), break-dancing, ball-tossing and even basic mathematics.
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Liverpool
This Fab Four theme pub may be a bit more Wings than Beatles, but it’s one of Irkutsk’s top watering holes, with an intercontinental beer menu and laid-back service. All the meals are imaginatively named after Beatles tracks, but we were assured that ‘In an Octopus’s Garden’ contains no octopus.
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Kochevnik
Take your taste buds to the Mongolian steppe for some yurt-size portions of mutton, lamb and steak as well as filling soups and buuzy ( pozi ). Ulaan Baatar aficionados may know its sister chain of Modern Nomad restaurants. English menu and smiley service.
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Russkaya Chaynaya
Wonderful place boasting a plush fin de siècle interior equipped with gleaming samovars, matryoshka salt and pepper shakers and a collection of yesteryear tea boxes. The astroturfed summer beer garden belongs to the Red Hall Pub downstairs.
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Na Zamorskoy
Fresh roses, rattan furniture, raffia-threaded blinds and lots of potted plants make this a soothing lunch spot. Enjoy delicious ham-and-cheese stuffed bliny and an excellent latte while watching the trams rattle past the church opposite.
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Okhlopkov Drama Theatre
On summer evenings romantic couples and jolly groups of locals stroll the Angara promenade and the grassy areas behind the fine Okhlopkov Drama Theatre, where Russian classics are staged regularly from September to June.
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Kafe Temp
For a slice of pure Soviet ambience try Kafe Temp, a sit-down cafeteria with archetypal 1970s décor. Amusingly surly staff bark bad-temperedly from behind gently vibrating displays of typical pre-served stolovaya stodge.
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Regional Administrative Building
The magnificent Annunciation Cathedral that once dominated pl Kirova was demolished during one of Stalin's bad moods. It was replaced by a hulking concrete Regional Administrative Building, the ex-Communist Party headquarters. Tragic.
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City History Museum
Small, far from central, but well presented, the City History Museum shows various eras through shop-window–style displays. Take bus 8, 11, 23 or 25, or trolleybus 8 or 10K to the ‘Muzey’ stop.
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Raising of the Cross Church
The 1758 baroque Raising of the Cross Church has a fine interior of gilt-edged icons and examples of intricate brickwork in a rounded style that’s unique to Irkutsk and the Selenga Delta village of Posolskoe.
reviewed
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U Dzhuzeppe
Cloyingly cute puppy photos undermine the otherwise understated elegance of high ceilings and wrought-iron fittings. Fruity eggplant and stuffed squid are much better than the microwaved pizza slices. Menu in English.
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Chili
Aztec-themed night-spot and all-day bar where you can join Irkutsk’s moneyed youth on beige couches bathed in flamingo neon for a flashy cocktail or outrageously overpriced meals (R250 to R600). Very central.
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Kazansky Church
Nearing completion, the gigantic Kazansky Church is a Disneyesque confection of salmon-pink walls and fluoro turquoise domes topped with gold baubled crosses. Get off tram 4 two stops northeast of the bus station.
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Monet
Overpriced and pretentiously dubbed a ‘coffee fashion club’, the Monet’s most intriguing feature is its downstairs oriental lounge illuminated with fragrant candles and big-screen Russian MTV.
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Angara Dam
Some 6km south of the centre, the 1956 Angara Dam is 2km long. Its construction raised Lake Baikal by up to 6m, causing various human and environmental problems, but the dam itself is hardly an attraction.
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