Alexander III Monument, Irkutsk, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia
The monument was put up in honour of Alexander III so as to thank him for making the decision of building the Trans-Siberian Railway. It was first unveiled in Irkutsk on the 30th of August 1908.
The sides of the monument were decorated with bronze sculptural portraits of historic figures that had left their mark in the history of Siberia such as conqueror of the region Ermak and governor-generals of Eastern Siberia Mikhail Speransky and Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky, as well as with the tsar’s edict of the Trans-Siberian Railway building, the arms of Siberia and of Irkutsk. In 1920, the statue was removed from the pedestal.
A monument “to earliest explorers of Siberia” replaced it 43 years later. The statue of Alexander III was re-established in 2003 for the centenary of the Trans-Siberian Railway on the initiative of the East Siberian Railway.
Epic Russia Culture & Adventure Route © Monika Newbound
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