Monument to Alexander III

The monument to Alexander III was installed in 1908 following the results of the All-Russian competition, in honor of the completion of the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The monument was designed by the winner of this competition, R.R. Bach. In 1920, the bronze statue of the tsar and the bronze inscriptions on the polished granite were removed and after that a monument to V.I. Lenin was created. Later, ideas were put forward to erect a monument to G.I. Shelikhov, but the sculpture never reached Irkutsk. So, the pedestal stood without an emperor for 43 years, until by 1963 a concrete pyramidal spire was installed, which became known as the monument to the “Pioneers of Siberia.” In 2003, the monument was restored for the centennial anniversary of the Trans-Siberian Railway.