Irkutsk

It is not far from Baikal Lake, down the Angara River, where a Cossack detachment headed by Yakov Pokhabov founded in 1661 a log ostrog (fort), the heart of the city.

For more than 330 years Irkutsk has been standing at the south shore of Baikal Lake and for centuries people living in this city were conscious of the uniqueness of its location. The city is divided by the Angara – the only river carrying the precious Baikal waters into the world while more than 300 large, small and tiny mountain rivers flow into the lake.

The city has lived through a lot of trouble during the three centuries of its history – waves of wars, revolts and revolutions swept as far as Siberia, earthquakes and fires kept changing the city's image. But still, Irkutsk has managed to preserve its singular look. The snow-white Church of the Savior and the Cathedral of Epiphany has survived since early days, and many log houses have become historical monuments.