About
As far back as the 17th century, Irkutsk was an outpost for trade with China in luxury goods, including gold, diamonds, and silk. And in the 19th century, many Russian artists, writers, and intellectuals were exiled to Irkutsk for their role in the Decembrist revolt against Tsar Nicholas I, which seeded Irkutsk with what would become a rich intellectual and artistic culture—earning Irkutsk today’s reputation as the “Paris of Siberia.”