Monument to Emperor Alexander III

Construction of the original monument was initiated by Alexander Panteleyev, Governor General of Irkutsk in 1903-1908, and sponsored by the citizens of Irkutsk. The monument was created by sculptor Roman Bach and architect Josef Tamulevich, and the statue was cast in Saint-Petersburg by the Moran company. The monument was erected to commemorate the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, which linked the center of Russia to its eastern territories. The Monument was opened on August 30, 1908. In 1920, the statue was torn down by the decision of the Irkutsk City Executive Committee. In 1961, a concrete obelisk was set on the empty pedestal, and the monument was renamed, becoming the "Monument to the pioneers of Siberia". On October 4, 2003, just before the Trans-Siberian Railway centennial, the monument was returned to its original form with the statue of Alexander III, restored by the sculptor Albert Charkin, member of the Russian Academy of Arts. In the niches of the pedestal one can see bronze bas-reliefs of historical figures who played an exceptional role in the exploration and further development of Siberia – the conqueror of Siberia Ermak, and two Governors General, Duke Michael Speransky and Duke Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky, dominated by a double-headed eagle, the coat of arms of the Russian Empire,. On the outer corners of the pedestal are four heraldic emblems. Three of them are coats-of arms of the territories that constituted Eastern Siberia before October 1917 – Irkutsk, Yenisseisk, and Yakutsk, and the fourth is the emblem of Siberia.