Founded in the mid 1600s to house a Cossack garrison, it became the springboard for expeditions into the far east. Traders, adventurers, exiles, missionaries and militarymen alike came to use Irkutsk as base camp and thus began the region's mingling of cultures and people. The administrative centre for east Siberia, it also was a popular destination for the tsars to exile those they wanted to punish - the tsars thought of it as the back of beyond but it grew into an important trading centre for fur, ivory, silk and tea - valuable commodities that made their way from the bazars of the east, from China and Japan to European capital cities and the salóns of the aristocracy.

The rocky Urals  kept this distant city detached from central Russia, and for many years Irkutsk was isolated from the mainstream, even to the extent of resisting the October Revolution till 1920. The Bolsheviks ensured the city was never to forget its little resistance and radically transformed it into a blueprint of Soviet style architecture, destroying much of its character.Today the city is one of greatest commercial and culture centres in the East of the country.

Amongst Irkutsk's attractions are Lake Baikal, perfect for a day's excursion and the log architecture, typical of the region. All the Siberian cities are proud of their log architecture, but only in Irkutsk are the top art wooden handicraft decorative plat bands very visible. Plat bands are borders or imposts on the pillars and walls that were handcarved by carpenters to decorate Irkutsk houses. Popular motifs included  shaded carved tulips over windows, "fans" and beamed suns at the plat bands, slim irises covering house walls and figured carvings at the edge of roofs.

The places that deserve a visit in this city are the Irkutsk Regional Museum with exhibitions featuring the nomadic lives, shaman headgears and fearsome Buryat idols; the Church of the Saviour; the Art Museum, the Epiphany Church, the Polish Church the only Gothic Building, Raising of Cross Church; a Tatar mosque; the Znamensky Monastery headquarters of the orthodox diocese of Irkutsk, Chita and Sakha and a Jewish synagogue. The great architect Qwarengi considered it an honor and therefore designed the White House, the residence of the Governor.

There are two or three flights each day to Moscow, thrice a week flights to St Petersburg and Krasnoyarsk; daily flights to Novisibirsk and six flights per week to Bratsk. International  flights come in to Irkutsk from Japan, China and Mongolia. Baikal Express, the train from Moscow takes 88 hours and the Rossia between Vladivostok and Moscow. More train connections are available to places like Yekaterinburg, Khabarovsk, Chita, Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk. In the summer months between June and September, a hydrofoil service operates three trips a week on Lake Baikal to towns along its shores. To get in and around the city one can use taxis, trams or trolleybuses as well as boats, ferries and hydrofoil services.

Accommodation options range from moderate hotels to cheap guest houses. Restaurants serve Chinese cuisine and Russian fare including such highlights as trout in Baikal sauce.  In the evenings, entertainment options are the circus on ulitsa Zhelyabova, performances at the Philharmonic Hall (ulitsa Lenina), disco and bowling alley at the Stratosphera Night Club (ulitsa Karla Marxa).