Irkutsk

Irkutsk is a Siberian city on the Angara River whose historic core preserves an unusually large concentration of 19th-century wooden townhouses with ornately carved window frames and facades, a legacy of the city's prosperity during the fur trade and gold rush eras. Founded in 1661 as a Cossack fort, it became a major administrative and cultural centre for eastern Siberia and a place of exile for Decembrist revolutionaries whose estates can still be visited. The Trans-Siberian Railway passes through the city, making it a natural stopping point for Baikal-bound travellers.