A Russian publicist from the 19th century wrote that as England created London and France created Paris, so Siberia created Irkutsk, and to not see the city, is to not see Siberia. The character of the city was partly influenced by the exiles who lived there after participating in the Decembrist Revolt of 1825, and partly influenced by the Black Year of 1879, when a fire destroyed the entire city over a period of three days. The next ten years were spent rebuilding the city passionately and by the 1900's, it was a very prosperous city. Irkutsk has a lot of unique character put into its architecture, due to the wealthy homeowners who hired the best architects to rebuild their mansions and estates after the fire. Today, when visiting Irkutsk, you can still see many of these beautiful brick buildings, as well as the artistic wooden homes of the Decembrists that Irkutsk is famous for.
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