The city of Irkutsk gained its name thanks to the local Irkut River, which flows on its territory. Founded in the middle of the XVII century, the city has grown to an extraordinary size, accommodating 600 thousand people in its open spaces. Every year, Irkutsk is visited by millions of tourists. One of the main attractions of this region is Lake Baikal. In addition, a special place among the cultural institutions of the city is occupied by His Majesty the Museum. Museums of Irkutsk is a separate page in its history. Here there are quite a lot of them: local history, art, museum of the Decembrists and others. Each of them has its own history of creation and development, its own style and atmosphere. To visit Irkutsk and not to visit its museums means not to see the city at all.
16 thousand works
Everything is beautiful in the city of Irkutsk. The art museum, bearing the status of the regional, deserves to be glorified and included in the list of these beauties. The institution was named in honor of Vladimir Platonovich Sukachev. This is the oldest museum and the largest in terms of the number of exhibits collected in it. Here are stored masterpieces of graphics, painting, sculptural and decorative art. More than 16 thousand units from the museum’s collection belong to different eras and different nations.
V.P. Sukachev at one time was the city leader, and devoted his whole life to public affairs. It is with his name that the formation of everything that today guests can see in the Irkutsk Regional Art Museum is associated. For the institution, he acquired the paintings of Repin, Aivazovsky, Shishkin, Maximov and other equally famous artists. Probably, not all museums in the city of Irkutsk can boast of such a variety of valuable historical exhibits.
The role of A. D. Fatyanov in the formation of the museum
Alexei Dementievich Fatyanov made a considerable contribution to the development of the Art Museum. In the late 40s of the last century, he received the post of director of the institution and held it until 1977. This person possessed all the qualities that a representative of such an important cultural profession should have. Thanks to his artistic taste, enthusiasm and patriotism, Alexei Dementyevich increased the number of museum exhibits several times. When he first took over the director's post, their number totaled 3057 units. Leaving the post, the director left 12,400 exhibits. Fatyanov presented the museum with paintings by Savrasov, Levitan, Kramskoy, as well as paintings by Western artists and icons belonging to the 16th and 18th centuries. Here he is so creative, Irkutsk. The city's art museum can safely compete with the Louvre and the Hermitage.
Irkutsk Regional Museum of Local Lore
This museum is the oldest institution in all of Siberia. After all, it was founded back in 1782. Exactly one century after the creation of the exposition, a special building was built for the museum of local lore. Such famous researchers as Kudryavtsev and Okladnikov worked in the institution.
The current museum of local lore (Irkutsk) contains historical, natural, scientific and stock, methodological departments, a museum studio, a book fund and the House Museum named after A. Vampilova. Each component of the institution actively replenishes its collections, develops and demonstrates the results of its activities to the general public.
In memory of the Decembrists
As our reader understood from all of the above, Irkutsk is a city that honors the memory of artists, researchers, sculptors and other representatives of art. The museum carries this memory . Museums of Irkutsk, without exception, convey the atmosphere of history, love and an irresistible desire to perpetuate all those who reflect in their works the beauty of this world.
The Irkutsk Museum of the Decembrists is designed to remind its guests of those who fought against autocracy and serfdom. It was opened at the end of the 70th year of the last century. At the very beginning, the institution was located in a building that belonged to the Trubetskoy family - a famous Decembrist. Then the institution was only one of the departments of the Irkutsk Museum of Local Lore. Today, the Irkutsk Historical and Memorial Museum of the Decembrists is a full-fledged institution that occupies two estates.
Other attractions
Undoubtedly, one of the main cultural attractions of any city is a museum. Museums in Irkutsk are a great confirmation of this. However, in such a huge city there is something to see and besides them. For example, Spasskaya Church. It is the oldest building built of stone. The church can present a large collection of bells to the audience. Among them are Gilev artifacts, which have no equal in the whole world.
A worthy decoration of the city is the White House. It was built by Xenophon Sibiryakov at the beginning of the XIX century. The mansion is an example of Russian classicism, and authorship is attributed to Giacomo Quarenghi.
Describe the interesting places of this city can be infinitely long. Without any exaggeration, it can be argued that the whole of Irkutsk is a museum. The museums of Irkutsk separately are a whole city.