Irkutsk 130 Kvartal

The 130th Quarter was built for Irkutsk's 350th anniversary in 2011: a block of about sixty wooden houses, some restored on site, some dismantled and moved here from elsewhere in the city, some built new to old patterns, and all turned into restaurants, bars, shops and a shopping centre behind them. It is the busiest place in Irkutsk in the evening and reads as a stage set, which is a fair criticism, but it also saved buildings that were going to be lost. The more interesting comparison is a short walk away, where the unreconstructed wooden streets of the old city stand as they are, carved, sagging and lived in. Irkutsk's wooden architecture came from merchant wealth in the tea and fur trades and from the exiled Decembrists, whose houses - the Volkonsky and Trubetskoy mansions - are museums nearby and worth more time than the bars.

What to look for

• The rebuilt quarter - about sixty wooden houses moved, restored or copied, now bars and shops.
• The contrast - unreconstructed wooden streets a few minutes' walk away.
• The Decembrist houses - the Volkonsky and Trubetskoy mansions, kept as museums.
• The evening crowd - the busiest part of the city after dark.

When to go

May to September for walking; the quarter is busiest on summer evenings. Two to three hours with the museums.

Before you go

It is a commercial development, not a preserved district, and much of what looks old is new. Prices are the highest in the city. The shopping mall behind it is unlovely. For actual old Irkutsk you have to walk out of the quarter.

Nearby

The Decembrist museums and the Angara embankment are within walking distance; Lake Baikal is about 70 km.