Friday 10 April 2015

I is for Irkutsk



I chose this card for two reasons.  The first is that it's a building of a style that I've never seen before. On the back of the card it tells me that it's the Palace of Pioneers and Schoolchildren.  It took quite a bit of research to find out more.

It was originally a mansion built in 1897 by Alexander Fedorovich Vtorov, but nowadays it is used for what I suppose you would call extra-curricular activities for children.  Here they can enjoy woodwork, electronics, photography, play sports, sing in choirs, drama, music, painting, and other crafts. It is one of the more striking buildings in Irkutsk.

The second reason I chose it was for the Cyrillic script "Иркутск", Irkutsk.  The script interests me to the extent that I started a very basic course of Russian last year.  It takes me several seconds to spell out a word but it's very satisfying when I can.

Irkutsk is one of the largest cities in Siberia, which makes up 77% of the landmass of Russia. It is very near Lake Baikal, the deepest and largest lake in the world.

5 comments:

  1. Interesting post. I studied Russian for a year during secondary school but never kept it up. The teacher was quite formidable and learning the language was hard. I've forgotten virtually all that I learned.

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  2. When I first saw the picture and before I saw the writing I thought it must be Russian or Eastern European. It has that look-what a great place for kids to go to!

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  3. Beautiful architecture! I imagine the language to be as elaborate as their buildings - good job on your progress!

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  4. Hi, fascnating architecture - just catching up with your latest posts, enjoying the variety, look forward to visiting again :)

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  5. Hi just catching up with your latest posts, enjoying the variety - fantastic unusal architecture on this one :) look forward to visiting again.

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