Address: 664003, Irkutsk, Karla Marksa Str., 13

Phone: (3952) 33-5916, 33-4753

Started in 1782, it’s now one of the oldest museums in Siberia and Russia. The Fire of 1879 destroyed the original building of the museum with all its collections and books in the library. However, in 1883 the new building was constructed and by the end of the 19th century there had been more than 20 000 artifacts in the museum.

The museum represents local history and culture of the people of the Central Asia, reflected in unique archaeological collections, including handicrafts, manuscripts, fauna and flora samples. Ethnography exhibitions contain cult pieces collection of Shamanism and Lamaism. The whole fund of the museum is now over 300 thousand exhibits.