Zalarin Regional Museum of Local Lore

Zalarinsky district is located in the south-western part of the Irkutsk region and is located 180 km from the regional center. It belongs to the Irkutsk-Cheremkhov plain with absolute heights of 450-500 m above sea level. In the north, the relief is expressed by a forest-steppe zone, but in the south it is distinguished by the elongated mountains of the Eastern Sayan. Sayan Mountains occupy a third of the area of the area and close to the mountains is part of the wild famous East Siberian taiga. The total area of the area is 7.6 thousand square meters. It is permeated by the water basins of the rivers Tagna, Khor-Tagna, Unga and Zalarinka.

More than 10,000 people live in the area. A very small stratum remained the indigenous population - the Buryats. Their residence here has been recorded since the 13th century, and a third of the Zalarin place names are of Buryat origin. In the area there are descendants of old-timers-chaldons who came to the Zalarin lands for their development more than 300 years ago from the northern regions of the region.

The largest and most significant stratum is the population of the Stolypin period. One hundred years ago, peasants from the Poltava, Ufa, Gomel, Volyn, Vinnytsia, Chernigov and other provinces of Russia moved from the European part to the free lands of Siberia, including the Zalarinsky district. Zalarinsky district can be called small Belarus - 14 villages were formed by Belarusians. The original culture was brought to ethnography by Ukrainians, Tatars, Veps, Chuvash. A unique diaspora in the area are the Golenders, colonial natives of Holland, who experienced a difficult path in history before they came to Siberia.

The main occupation of the population was and is agriculture. With the development of infrastructure in Soviet times, coal and rock salt production developed in the area. During the Vov years, ZMZ was opened, in the postwar years - an oil factory, a food processing plant, a timber industry. In the 60-70s, the Trinity Alcohol Plant reached its heyday, the oldest in the district and region, and had great industrial importance for the region. Today far beyond the known Tyret salt mine. Of the fisheries of the population, the most popular is the harvesting of nuts, berries, firewood, taiga hunting, fishing.