A Student's Irkutsk
Student Travel in Siberia with Danya Spencer
a project of The School of Russian and Asian Studies

Danya Spencer (right) enjoys some traditional Russian food with a friend in a wooden yurt structure in Siberia!

About the Project: A Student's Irkutsk is a project of The School of Russian and Asian Studies (SRAS). In an effort to let other students know where the good student grub is and where to go for entertainment in Siberia, SRAS's Home and Abroad Scholarship recipient will give you a weekly insider's peak into what it's like to call Irkutsk, Russia "home" for an academic year! 

The SRAS Home and Abroad Program offers $10,000 to students who want to build translation, writing, research, and language skills at home and abroad. Find out more!

01/18/2012

Иркутский академический театр имени Охлопкова /
Irkutsk Okhlopkov Drama Theatre
ул. Карла Маркса, 14  
Tickets typically range from 200-400 rubles

A production of “Marriage” at the Drama Theater.

The drama theatre is an impressive building from the outside, and is one of Irkutsk's picturesque landmarks. Inside it is equally attractive, complete with an intricately designed ceiling and chandelier, and golden fringed canopies along the balcony seating.

In early December we finally got a chance to go to the Irkutsk Drama Theatre for a performance of Gogol's comedic play, Marriage (Женитьба). It was enjoyable and funny, even if we didn't understand about sixty percent of the dialogue. The actors were very good and made us laugh throughout the play, through both their comedic expressions and their words. We even picked up on some of the puns they made!

The theatre offers performances on two different stages nearly every day of the month, so there are plenty of opportunities to see a variety of new and old, both Russian and non-Russian theatre, provided you plan ahead. Performances at the drama theatre tend to sell out quite quickly, so buying tickets in advance is a must to guarantee yourself a seat.

For the winter holiday season, the drama theatre offers a performance of the traditional Russian fairy tale, Морозко (Jack Frost) running twice or more each day for two weeks, giving everyone in the city ample chance to see it, along with their kids. As one of the more expensive theatres in town, it's not always an option to go frequently, but it's worth it once in awhile to have a nice night out at one of Irkutsk's most beautiful theatres.

01/15/2012

Театр кукол "Аистенок" / "Aistyonok" (Little Stork) Puppet Theatre
ул. Байкальская, 32  
Box office hours: 10am - 2pm and 3-6pm, closed Mondays
Tickets from 100-200 rubles

Puppet theatre is a popular art form in Russia and almost unknown in the US. See a production while you have the chance!

The Irkutsk puppet theatre, a bright blue building that we pass every day on our bus route to school, is a fun place to go for affordable entertainment that you don't have to plan too far in advance to enjoy.

Tickets range from 100-200 rubles and are worth every kopeck. Recently I went to see a puppet show for adults called the Divine Comedy, written by the Soviet playwright Isidor Shtok. The script of the play is unrelated to Dante's epic poem, but is humorously based on the biblical story of humanity's creation, and Adam and Eve's fall from the Garden of Eden. The show is a mix of live acting with masks and puppetry, with a team of puppeteers clad in black, who guide the puppets skillfully with their invisible hands.

It was very well done, and the dialogue was understandable even for people there with beginning-level Russian. The humor was excellent, and kept us laughing throughout the show, between the entertaining masks, the puns and the cultural and local references (at one moment, God reflects on the wonders of the world and among them mentions Baikal's famous delicacy, the fish, omul).

The show was long, about two hours with a 10-15 minute intermission in between, so you are kept well entertained for long time at a very low price. While the seats do fill up for these shows, you do not generally need to buy tickets too far in advance. The puppet theater is a great way to spend an evening watching an entertaining art form common in Russia and rarely seen in the states.

01/14/2012

IL Патио / Il Patio
ул. Сухэ-Батора, 7Б,  
Hours: 10am - 2am
Meals from $7

Above: Il Patio strives to look, feel, and taste Italian Below: Shared dishes at Il Patio can give greater variety for less cost. Here, Danya and her friend have created a dish of pasta and pizza to share

We’ve been looking for a good pizza place for a while here in Irkutsk, and the Il Patio outlet is one of the best we’ve found yet. It tries to be a "real" Italian place, with Italian phrases written on the wall and an Italian head chef imported from Italy that oversees this Russia-wide chain.

So it’s inherently not as cheap as the typical student budget café, but I think it’s worth mentioning as a place to go with friends. With sharing and creativity, it can fit within the student budget and provide a nice variety in your options for dining out. Il Patio is a large place with lots of room, so it’s a great place to bring larger groups of friends, for birthdays or other events. If you share dishes with friends, it still fits within the student budget and provides a warm and relaxed atmosphere and delicious food.

The menu is made up primarily of different appetizer, pizza, and pasta options, as well as desserts and drinks, ranging from tea and coffee to beer and cocktails.

I went there with a friend recently to try out the pizza and we decided to split a pizza (220 rubles) and a pasta dish (185 rubles) to try them each out. We were very happy with the pizza, some of the best we’ve had in Irkutsk: thin-crust and fresh out of the oven. They have some basic pizza choices and then some more exotic and exciting ones, plus the option to invent your own with toppings of your choice. The pasta we chose was fairly simple, but still flavorful and filling. We each spent just under 250 rubles for our half of the meal, including a drink (an 80 ruble bottle of water). Not bad for a good Italian meal.

All in all, Il Patio offers filling and tasty meals in a very warm and pleasant atmosphere.

For groups and faculty-led tours, Il Patio can be a comfortable option, as they can easily handle larger groups and this location seems to be rarely full. It doesn't have any direct cultural value to teach in Moscow – except that it is Russian-owned and operated and is generally affordable and tasty, which might make it an interesting stop for a case study for business students.

01/04/2012

Кафе "Любимый город" / Cafe Lubimiy Gorod 
ул. Ленина, 18, inside of Байкалкредобанк building 
Hours: 10am - 6pm, Monday through Friday
 

Above: The simple, classy interior of Lubimiy Gorod Below: Simple, very Russian food from Lubimiy Gorod in Irkutsk, near ILGU

Lyubimiy Gorod is a hole-in-the-wall café located inside a larger building complex. To get there, you have to go inside the Байкалкредобанк building, then head down the hallway and find it on the left. Signs will point to Кафе “Любимый город”, which is on the right side of the hallway. Without some other reason for entering the building, you would never know what a small, comfortable, and quiet café is located within its walls. But Lyubimiy Gorod is reliably there on weekdays as a great place for lunch, being one of the closest cheap eateries from the Irkutsk State Linguistic University.

I have never seen more than two tables full there. When you enter, you place an order at the counter and find a seat while you wait for your food. They feature a daily menu with prepared foods for quicker orders, and a standard menu of foods which are available each day, but take longer to prepare (usually no more than 20 minutes, and well worth the wait). The food is quite standard Russian café fare, but high quality and very affordable.

Last time I went with three friends and ordered драники (draniki - fried potato pancakes, four for 90 rubles), blini with condensed, sweetend milk (65 rubles), and tea (15 rubles). The draniki are some of our favorites yet in the city, with good flavor without being too oily. The blini are also very delicious, a simple classic very well done. We all finished our meals feeling very full and satisfied with the unhurried atmosphere and prompt service of our food.

I would highly recommend this place as a nice lunch place with reliable service and a calm environment to bring friends and enjoy a delicious and cheap meal.

For groups and faculty-led tours, seating here may be an issue. However, if you order ahead, a smaller group of 12 or so could likely be easily served in this quiet and very comfortable Russian establishment.

01/03/2012

Чикаго Джазз Клаб / Chicago Jazz Club
ул. Байкальская, 108
(inside the "Меха Сибири" building, entrance on the left side of the building)    
Entrance: 150 - 200 Rubles for most concerts

Above: Chicago Jazz Club

One Friday night, some friends from the dorm invited me to a concert at a nearby venue featuring a local band. Only about a ten-minute walk from the IGLU dormitory, the Chicago Jazz Club is housed in the basement of a very unassuming commercial complex. But once inside the downstairs hall, you are transported to a bygone era of American culture. The one-room bar and concert venue is filled with old turntables and musical instruments on display and the walls are covered with portraits of famous musicians from the past century's history of blues, rock, funk, and jazz. It's a very warm and inviting space, and is quite cozy in its size and atmosphere. Drinks are served at the bar, with the cheapest beer priced at 120 rubles.

Chicago Jazz Club hosts a variety of concerts each week, featuring mostly rock bands, including some local Irkutsk bands. The show we went to was with the local band "Neizvestniy Ispolnitel" (Неизвестный испольнитель, literally, 'Unknown Artist') which is a Russian rock and cover band that plays frequently in the Irkutsk area.

On their website, Chicago Jazz Club advertises upcoming shows including the occasional "theme night". You can take photos inside the club for no extra charge, buy drinks, and buy band merchandise, including CDs and posters.

12/30/2011

Кафе Эспрессо / Cafe Espresso
ул. Красноармянская, 2 
Open from 10am to 11pm
Meals from $6

Above: The entrence to Cafe Espresso!

Cafe Espresso is a small cafe located on a side street off Karl Marx Street, one of the main streets downtown. It serves a variety of very tasty Russian dishes, including soups, sandwiches, omelets, pozi, pelmeni, blini, and drinks ranging from simple coffee and tea to hot cocoa with a scoop of ice cream. The cafe is made up of three booths and a number of free-standing tables and chairs. The space is small, but there are nearly always a couple tables or booths free. My friend Emily found Cafe Espresso one day while exploring the city center, and since then we’ve returned numerous times for lunch or a nice place to warm up with tea and borsch after a cold walk.

It’s a sit-down cafe, and being such a small place, the service is quite quick. Some dishes take longer than others, but the server will usually warn you about the time it will take for longer dishes to be prepared. One of our favorite things to order are the potato pancakes (draniki – драники) which are served with sour cream and lots of dill. Their borsch is also particularly flavorful and filling, with a generous helping of meat as well as dill. A filling meal of potato pancakes (120 rub), a cheese and tomato sandwich (69 rub) and a cup of tea (35 rub) ran me just under 230 rubles and left me very satisfied. Their menu is pretty extensive, so although we often order some of the same things when we go back, there are also many new options to try out.

There are no separated smoking or non-smoking sections, so the place can be a bit smoky at times. But with its small size and laid-back feel, Cafe Espresso can be a cozy place to hang out with coffee and tea and a snack or full lunch with friends. The place is rarely filled, which gives it a relaxing and unhurried atmosphere.

Above: Coffee house food - simple and cheap.

For groups and faculty-led tours, Kafe Espresso will probably be too small for groups of more than about five or six students.

12/28/2011

Поварешка / Povaryoshka
ул. Ленина, 32 
Open from 10 am to 10 pm
Meals from $4

Above: ... Below: ...

Povaryoshka, which means “ladle” in Russian, is a fast-food cafe in downtown Irkutsk, not far from the Irkutsk State Linguistic University. They serve fairly standard Russian fast food, plus pizza and a number of interesting soups.

I discovered this place after two friends and I went searching after classes one day for a lunch place nearby the university because it was a very cold day. We saw Povaryoshka, which we often pass on the way home and thought we’d give it a shot. The interior of the cafe is homey, with two rooms of booths and tables and a counter to the side, where you place your order. The place was pretty full when we arrived and there was a line, but we grabbed a table and waited in line for several minutes while looking at the menu. I ordered a slice of Margarita pizza (65 rubles), a cup of vegetable puree soup (45 rubles), and tea with lemon (15 rubles). The food was quick, although the women behind the counter were a bit stressed because of the line. My total was only 125 rubles, and I didn’t expect it to fill me up, but the food was delicious and surprisingly filling, and by the end of the meal I was very full.

The soups we ordered were all delicious, with lots of flavor and served with rye croutons (гренки) on the side. One friend of mine ordered borsch and meat lasagna, and another friend ordered solyanka soup and an apple pastry (яблочный пирог). Everything turned out well, and the pizza was surprisingly good, with real cheese and tomatoes (it’s not uncommon to find pizza made with mayonnaise and ketchup in place of tomato sauce in Irkutsk's fast food restaurants).

Povaryoshka seems to be a popular place for weekday lunch in Irkutsk. People eating there were mostly solo, eating a quick lunch and heading back out. But it is also a nice place to come with friends, as there is enough space to stay for a while and not feel rushed. With no check to worry about paying after your meal, you can sit and drink tea for awhile and no one will hurry you out the door.

For groups and faculty-led tours, Povaryoshka will likely prove to be a bit small for groups of more than about 10. Service can be a little slow, particularly at the lunch rush, when a line tends to form at the counter. But for smaller groups, this could be a great place for quick, cheap meal between events.

12/17/2011

Музей декабристов: Дом-музей Волконских /Decembrists Museum: Volkonsky Mansion
пер. Волконского, 10 
Open from 10 am to 6 pm, closed Mondays
General admission: 200 Rubles, but many different discounts for elderly, students, and entry for college students is free

Above: Museum's Interior

Located on a small street off of Timuryaeva, not far from the bus station, the Volkonsky Mansion of the Decembrists Museum is not the easiest to find, but worth the effort if you’re interested in Russian and Siberian history. The museum focuses on the Volkonsky's, a socialite family who were exiled to Siberia after the Decembrist revolt. Maria Volkonsky, the youngest daughter of the family, was arguably one of Siberia's most influential people. She was featured in poems by Pushkin and Eugene Onegin was dedicated to her. 

Just inside the lavender gates is a large courtyard decorated with flower patches and an old well. The house itself is two floors and the rooms inside are arranged in a courtyard layout around a central staircase. The top floor houses the bedrooms and a private sitting room, as well as Maria Volkonskaya’s study, which contains the Volkonsky's famous pyramidal piano. Near the back stairwell, which was used by the servants, is Maria Volkonskaya’s greenhouse, where the museum staff takes great pride in having been able to recreate the lemon plant which Volkonskaya managed to grow in Siberia’s harsh climate.

Above: Monument to Decembrists' Wives

The first floor of the museum holds the dining room, ornately decorated with chandeliers and a long central table for entertaining guests, where Maria Volkonskaya would serve her popular “nalivka,” a type of fruit liqueur. Also on the first floor are Volkonsky’s study and the parlor, which includes the original piano from the Volkonsky’s time. Occasionally the museum hosts cultural events, including holiday celebrations and concerts, which are held in the parlor.

One of the interesting things about the Decembrists museum is the emphasis put on the wives of the Decembrists, who are represented in great detail throughout the museum. Their stories are inspiring to read. And the portraits of the women who chose to leave their Saint Petersburg homes and families behind to care for their husbands in a new and unfamiliar Siberian settlement are stiking. The Volkonsky Mansion is a view into their new life in Siberia and their adaptation to life in exile.

Out the gates of the Volkonsky Mansion and down a small path to the right is a statue erected in memory of the wives of the Decembrists, a very bold and powerful sculpture which should not be missed after your trip to the Volkonsky Mansion.

12/11/2011

Russian Election Protests
A view from Irkutsk 

For several weeks up to the elections for State Duma, flyers and newsletters were handed out throughout Irkutsk by representatives from many different parties, primarily A Just Russia, the Communist Party, and the Liberal Democratic Party. On the last working day before the elections, there was a demonstration where members of A Just Russia and the Communist party gathered together with flags and banners on the central square downtown.

On Saturday, December 10th, Irkutsk joined many other Russian cities in protest of the recent elections. Around 500-1000 residents of Irkutsk gathered around the square near the circus to protest the election results and call for honest elections (За честные выборы!) It was a fairly tame protest, with no incidents. Many journalists were present to photograph and record the demonstrators. Symbols of the protest included white ribbons, representing the call for fair and honest elections, and a depiction of an angry bear carrying a money bag (a parody of United Russia's logo).

Yabloko had a strong presence at the demonstration, with party organizers in green uniforms helping everything run smoothly and without any police intervention. Some interesting costumes were also present, including a man dressed as Che Guevara, complete with cap and cigar. A newsletter, "Siberia without Censorship" was handed out to participants as well as flyers advertising the next demonstration, planned for December 17th at 2pm at Stadium Trud.

Find more photographs of the event here. 

Official Election Results in Irkutsk Oblast:
United Russia – 34.93%
Communist Party – 27.79%
Liberal Democratic Party – 17.34%
A Just Russia –13.36%
Yabloko – 3.44%
Patriots of Russia – 1.19%
Right Cause – 0.56%

From the widespread protests, one gets the impression that citizens are generally dissatisfied with United Russia and tired of the Putin & Medvedev administration. But the fact that United Russia still won a majority of votes across the board puzzles and frustrates these protestors. Asking people in Irkutsk about the elections, I generally hear things like, "there's no one to vote for" (Не за кого голосовать) and "anything but United Russia," and many uses of the popular blogger Alexei Navalny's famous description of United Russia as "the party of swindlers and thieves." The older people who I talked to seemed to lean more toward the Communist Party and Yabloko, while youth leaned more toward the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia.

12/03/2011

Кафе "Govinda" / Cafe Govinda
Downtown location: ул. Фурье, 4;
second location: 2-я Железнодорожная ул., 66
(остановка "Чайка", в здании Нерпинария, 3 этаж) 
Open 11 am to 8 pm
Meals from $5-7

Above: A wider variety of vegitarian yumminess. Below: The classy interior of Govinda.

The most unexpected aspect of my time in Irkutsk so far has been the discovery of an entirely vegetarian restaurant called Govinda. Govinda is a relatively new establishment, having opened up only two years ago, but already has two cafes, one on each bank of the city. The food served at Govinda is a Russian take on Indian cuisine, and is very creative and flavorful. It's a cafeteria-style cafe, where you grab a tray and order dishes from a buffet. They serve their own version of samosas, casseroles, soy proteins, vegetable cutlets, and several chutneys with rice. Plus, they have a wide variety of interesting desserts. The seating area is really lovely; they have one low table on a raised platform where you sit on the ground with no shoes on to eat, but the rest of the tables are ordinary chair-seating. The decor is very nice and it feels as though the owners put a lot of work into the atmosphere of the cafe, as well as the menu.

I first ate at Govinda with a group of six foreigners, all very interested in seeing what a vegetarian restaurant in Russia would be like. The woman serving us was extremely patient in explaining to our motley group what the different dishes were, since they were almost entirely unfamiliar to us. Everything we ate was delicious, and everyone's meal was under 250 rubles, including drinks and desserts and two, sometimes three dishes. One of the favorites here is a stuffed pepper filled with cheese, rice, and vegetables, which we order each time we come here. A plate of rice with one of the chutneys costs 50 rubles (about $1.60), samosas cost 40 rubles each, and the stuffed peppers cost 60 rubles each. Different kinds of juice range from 15-25 rubles and there are a variety of desserts from 30 rubles.

If you're tired of the average Russian fast-food bliny, or just looking to try something really new and different, Govinda is a delicious and healthy choice for finding new sources of protein, and interesting new spice and flavor combinations.

They also have a page on Vkontakte, with tantalizing pictures of some of their food offerings.

For groups and faculty-led tours, Govinda could be a possibility. The two locations, low prices, and tasty, vegi-friendly foods all make this a place that all students can enjoy without breaking the pocket book. However, the locations are small and arriving with 20 students would probably fill the place all at once. If you'll be coming with more than 10 at a time, you'll want to call ahead and see what arrangements can be made.

11/28/2011

Кафе "Джинс" / Cafe Jeans
ул. Байкальская, 107а (кинотеатр "Баргузин", 2 этаж) 
Open 12 pm to 12 am
Meals from $7-10

Above: Coffee at Jeans Cafe

Cafe Jeans is located on the second floor of the movie theater Barguzin on Baikalskaya Street. It has a very bright interior, filled with comfortable couches around low tables, and on the day we went it happened to be hosting a child’s birthday party, so one room was filled with happy children and Pixar animations played on the two TV screens. Service is sit-down, so you find a table and couch and one of the waiters will bring you a menu. Then once you’ve decided what to eat, all you need to do is press a button (knopka) on the table and the waiter will come by to take your order. The service is prompt and they are patient with foreigners.

The menu, which features some humorous English translations of their more exotic dishes, offers a huge variety of options, and you can order many different kinds of food, from gourmet salads and meat dishes, to hamburgers and fries, to sushi and other Japanese entrees. There is also an extensive drink and dessert menu. Being a fairly gourmet place, not all of the dishes are cheap, but some of the fancier things are affordable if split between two or more friends.

I went there with two friends and we chose a couple dishes to order and split, so that we could try several things without having too much to eat. After spending a long time with the extensive (almost overwhelming) menu, we decided to try some of their Japanese dishes: vegetable teriyaki (280 rubles), a few types of sushi (130 rubles each), and a side of fries (50 rubles). The food came quite quickly and was delicious. The vegetable teriyaki was very flavorful, and the presentation of both it and the rolls was very nice. The cucumber and avocado rolls, which came with the standard wasabi and pickled ginger, were delicious, and the Irish coffees that my friends ordered (entirely outside of the budget) were also very good. Excluding the extravagant drinks, our meals came to 255 rubles a person, which kept us full, but not overly full, and fit the budget perfectly.

Above: The tastey food at Cafe Jeans.

Cafe Jeans is not your typical budget restaurant, and could easily exceed a student budget. The menu is very extensive, and offers a large range of cuisines, therefore sharing is recommended so as to maximize the different dishes you can try at one meal without spending too much. There's no hurry at Cafe Jeans, and with the comfortable couches you can relax there long after finishing your meal without feeling rushed or pressured to leave. Or you can grab a bite to eat there before or after a movie at Barguzin. And if you're studying at ISLU (ИГЛУ), Cafe Jeans at Barguzin theater is located less than 10 minutes from the student dorms near Volzhskaya, so it's a very convenient place for lunch or dinner or just coffee with friends.

For groups and faculty-led tours, Cafe Jeans could be a possibility. Given the extensive and diversity of the menu you would want to have a set menu to make sure that you stay in budget if that is a concern.

 

11/21/2011

Архитектурно-этнографический музей "Тальцы" / Taltsy Museum of Architecture and Ethnography
Алеутская, 11 
150 rubles general entrance fee (Other prices may apply for special events.)
~100 rubles Marshrutka ride from Irkutsk to the museum

Above: Taltsy - school Below: Taltsy - Yurt

Located about 40 minutes outside the city of Irkutsk, on the way to the popular Baikal shore town of Listvyanka, is the Taltsy Museum of Architecture and Ethnography. Taltsy is an open-air museum of Siberian history from the seventeenth to twentieth centuries. Acres of forested land are filled with wooden structures replicating the buildings of historical Siberian villages, including houses, farmsteads, churches, and a school building. Visitors to the museum can walk the museum grounds, stopping in at each building to see tools, clothes, furniture, and other everyday objects from past centuries of Eastern Siberian village life. You can catch a glimpse of the infamous Russian stove, known to all lovers of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and other masters of Russian literature as the warmest and most comfortable spot in the house.

Perhaps one of the most unique things to see at Taltsy is the exhibit of Buryat yurts, featuring both a cloth yurt and a wooden yurt, inside of which is replicated the distinct men's and women's sides of the yurt, and the sleeping area and fire pit between them.

The museum is located directly on the shore of the Angara river and is especially beautiful in mid September just when the leaves are changing color and beginning to fall. On a sunny day, bring a lunch and stop for a picnic at the bottom of the grassy hill overlooking the Angara river before you head on your way. You'll also find tables selling Baikal souvenirs at the museum, but be aware that there is a greater selection of souvenirs available at Listvyanka, and a greater opportunity for price comparison there.

11/14/2011

Иркутский областной краеведческий музей
Irkutsk Local History Museum
Отдел истории: ул. Карла Маркса, 2 
Open 10 am to 6 pm, closed Mondays
Entrance: free for students (with ID), 200 rubles for adults;
300 rubles for a photography permit

Above: Exterior of the museum.

The Irkutsk Local History Museum is located downtown, on the edge of the Angara river, just across the street from Alexander III's towering statue. The museum specializes in the ethnographic history of Siberia, its natives and settlers.

The museum begins in the first hall with the history of native tribes of the Western and Eastern Siberian territory, such as the Evenks and Tofelars. Display cases show objects of everyday use for these tribes, including tools, clothing, and ritual items. Passing each case and reading about the different objects within them, you can see the development of tools and apparel from earlier to later tribes. Each display provides both the original Russian and an English translation of the names of the objects contained within.

Above: A Soviet stained glass window at the museum.

The second hall continues with the history of the Russian settlement of Siberia, including displays on the Decembrists and other early settlers, as well as fun old mechanical artifacts like an early cash register and a whimsical mechanical clock called the Wonder Clock.

This hall also features a large painting of the Irkutsk fire, which destroyed most of the city in 1879.

Upstairs, the museum features a hall dedicated to the meaning behind symbols of Irkutsk and of Russia, including depictions of the early designs of the Irkutsk flag as well as old flags and paraphernalia from the Soviet era. The last hall is dedicated to military equipment and uniforms and also has a display of the Russian and Soviet currency from the past century.

The Irkutsk Local History Museum is a great place to find out more about Russian and Siberian history with the visual aid of artifacts from each historical time period of its development. The museum also offers a range of souvenirs for purchase at the entrance.

More photos of the history museum galleries can be found on the museum's website.

11/07/2011

Cafe Nerpenok (Кафе “Нерпенок”)
Пролетарская, 13а
Poznaya and Russian Cafe
Meals from $4

Above: Nerpenok's simple yet pleasing menu. Below: Nerpenok's simple yet pleasing interior.

The “poznaya,” a place which serves pozi, the national dish of the Buryats, is ubiquitous in the Baikal area. The Buryats are Siberia's largest ethnic minority and are largely concentrated around Lake Baikal. Pozi are steamed meat dumplings and Cafe Nerpenok, centrally located on Proletarskaya Street, serves them together with standard Russian lunch fare in a simple atmosphere.

The name is an affectionate term derived from "nerpa" - a small seal that lives in nearby Lake Baikal and nowhere else in the world.

The café interior is cozy in a very simple way. Large, wooden slab tables and counters fill the cafe and when you first walk in, you come to a wooden bar where you can look at the menu and order your food. Then you sit and wait until you are called up to pick up your food (Заберите, пожалуйста!) The service is simple and unremarkable, like many of the Russian cafes and particularly those serving relatively cheap food. You order, you eat, and your plates are taken away. There’s a beauty to its simplicity.

The menu is quite standard for an Eastern Siberian cafe. Salads, main dishes of meat and fish, bliny, pozi and various sides, pastries and desserts are served, along with coffee and tea and other beverages. Some menu items are very quick and some have a longer wait time, up to twenty minutes sometimes for pozi and other dishes. The salads are particularly tasty, and the pozi are a classic standard for lunch patrons.

I went with a friend for lunch and we ordered a cheese sandwich for 35 rubles (a little over $1), a cabbage and carrot salad for 40 rubles, fried potatoes (which turned out to be french fries) for 40 rubles, pozi for 30 rubles a piece, tea for 15 rubles and an Americano coffee (which is espresso with water added) for 35 rubles. The food was simple and standard as far as Siberian cafes go, but for foreigners the pozi are novel and provide a tasty and fairly exotic new treat.

All in all, the Nerpenok poznaya is a simple cafe for cheap food and a comfortable and laid-back atmosphere. It’s neither the most exciting food nor the fastest, but it has reliable standards and always has room to sit and relax with some tea and pozi, bliny, or salad, all well within the student budget.

For groups and faculty-led tours, this can be an option, but it probably not if you needed to keep things quick as many of the menu items can take as long as 20 minutes - and would likely take even longer if several orders came in at once.

10/29/2011

Irkutsk Art Museum (Siberian Art Branch)
Художественный музей (Отдел сибирского искусства)
Карла Маркса, 23
Open from 10am to 6pm, Closed Mondays
Entrance: 200 rubles (foreign adults), 150 rubles (foreign students).
100 rubles (photography permit).

In downtown Irkutsk, not far from the Central Market (Tsentral'niy Rinok) you’ll find the Siberian Art Branch of the Irkutsk Art Museum, a small, two-storied museum featuring special exhibitions of Siberian art which change every few months. The museum also holds several permanent exhibitions: Siberian Portrait, featuring portraits of Siberian merchants and intelligentsia from the 18th and 19th centuries, Siberian Icons, and Primitive Art of Siberia: From Antiquity to the Future, which features art from native peoples of Siberia.

I attended the museum while it was featuring an exhibit of sculpture and drawing by the Buryat artist Dashi Namdakov, who is also famous for having designed the costumes for the critically-acclaimed 2007 movie Mongol. On display on the first floor were some of his larger sculptures and drawings, as well as a viewing area set up to show a four-part documentary on his life and art, featuring interviews with him on his life and artistic process, as well as footage showing rituals of the Buryat shamanistic and Buddhist culture in which he was brought up.

Upstairs the exhibit continued, in a large, spacious hall with plenty of room for many more of his sculptures, which range from two to seven feet in height. Adjoining this hall are the permanent exhibition halls, which are included in the admission for the special exhibition.

If you get the chance to visit the Museum of Siberian Art, don’t forget to sign the guestbook left for the featured artists of the current special exhibit. It’s interesting to see all the different places people have come from to visit the museum, and nice to add your own note to the collection.

Siberian sculpture by Dashi Namdakov

Russian icon created in Siberia

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