Irkutsk city - the Wooden Capital of Eastern Siberia
A city at crossroads. Irkutsk history.
Irkutsk is a unique old city, the ancient crossroad of trade routes. It is located in Eastern Siberia, on the banks of the Angara River, at the confluence with the Irkut River (hence the name of the city), 66 km to the west of Lake Baikal, about 5,200 km to the east of Moscow.
Irkutsk was founded as a wooden fortress in 1661 on the right bank of the Angara and declared a city in 1686. That time, it was a small settlement playing the role of a gold and fur trade center. From the beginning of the 19th century, Siberia in general and Irkutsk in particular became the place where a lot of Russian officers and nobles were exiled for taking part in Decembrist uprising.
Electricity came to Irkutsk in 1896, the first theater - in 1897, and the railway station - in 1898. In the 19th century Irkutsk was called "Siberian Paris". The city was one of the centers of Bolshevik Revolution resistance during the Russian Civil War. The city and surrounding territories were heavily industrialized during the Soviet period.
Modern Irkutsk is a historical city, which combines magnificence and unique nature of a historical center with blocks of modern buildings, traditions of the most intelligent and educated Siberian city with modern industrial, research and educational potential. Even today, Irkutsk still remains at crossroads of transportation routes, which bind the West and the East of Russia and connect Russia with China and Mongolia. It is a large scientific and educational center with more than one hundred thousand students. Irkutsk is a home city for the Siberian branch of the Academy of Sciences of Russia.
Nowadays Irkutsk is the sixth largest city in Siberia, the capital of the Irkutsk region. The population of Irkutsk is about 620,000 (2015), the area - 432 sq. km.
*1 . Find in the text the sentences with Passive Voice.
EXAMPLES: It is located in Eastern Siberia.
Irkutsk was founded as a wooden fortress in 1661.
