Irkutsk Architectural and Ethnographic Museum "Taltsy"

Architectural and ethnographic museum "Taltsy" is a unique collection of monuments of history, architecture and ethnography of the XVII-XX centuries. It is located on the right bank of the Angara on the 47th kilometer of the Baikal tract on the road from Irkutsk to Baikal. The open-air museum complex attracts visitors with the possibility of direct acquaintance with the material and spiritual culture of the peoples of the Baikal region.

The museum retrospectively recreates four historical and cultural zones: Russian, Buryat, Evenki and Tofalar. Buryats, Evenki and Tofa are the indigenous peoples of the Baikal region. Their way of life, peculiarities of life and beliefs are told by Evenki and Tofalar camps, a complex of Evenki burials and a Buryat ulus pilot.

The Russian Angara-Ilimsk exposition zone, which contains monuments of wooden architecture of the Baikal region of the XVII – early XX century, mainly exported from the territory of the Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsky districts of the Irkutsk region, is represented by several groups.
The exposition complex "Volostnoye Village", recreating the administrative center of the late XIX - early XX century, includes the complex "Volostnoye Governiya", a parish school, a psalmist manor, a city Cossack manor. Its main attraction is the unique monuments of history and architecture of defense and religious architecture: Spasskaya Passage Tower (1667) and Kazan Church (1679) of the Ilim Fortress.
The picture of the life of the old-time population of the Baikal region is complemented by the expositions of the cascade of water mills of the late XIX century, a small-town village consisting of peasant estates of the XVII-XIX centuries, a Siberian cemetery and a moribund castle of the XIX century.
At present, the Verkholensk, Vitim gold-industrial, resettlement, tract and urban zones, as well as the Buryat ulus-winter and working settlement are under scientific development.

The funds of the museum "Taltsy" number more than 20 thousand exhibits. About 140,000 people visit it every year.

Traditional folk holidays held in the museum: Christmas, Maslenitsa, Easter, Trinity. Around the "Taltsov" are combined masters who have the skills of weaving, weaving from a vine, making products from birch bark and clay. Several peasant houses are adapted for workshops, in which craftsmen share the secrets of craftsmanship and demonstrate their products.

Modern Architectural and Ethnographic Museum "Taltsy" is not only a place of preservation of monuments of folk wooden architecture, but also a popular tourist center, which is gladly visited by everyone who is interested in the past of the Baikal region.

The museum cooperates with the best creative teams of the city, has extensive experience in holding regional, regional and international events.