RussiaIn the early 60s, during the construction of the Ust-Ilimsk Hydroelectric Power Station, it became necessary to save unique historical and architectural monuments of national significance – the Spasskaya Gateway Tower (1667) and the Kazan Gate Church (1679) of the Ilimsk Fortress, which were located in the zone of the upcoming flooding of the Ust-Ilimsk Reservoir.
During this period, the Soviet Union first raised the issue of preserving elements of traditional folk culture, particularly its unique wooden architecture, on a large scale. Efforts began to establish open-air museums in various regions of the country. The Irkutsk Region was among the few to succeed.
On January 9, 1966, the Irkutsk Regional Executive Committee decided to establish a museum of folk architecture. Moscow architect Galina Gennadyevna Oranskaya was tasked with selecting a site for the future museum. She chose the Taltsinskoye tract, at the confluence of the Angara and Taltsinka rivers. The first mention of the tract is found in information about the establishment of a farmstead of the Znamensky Convent on its lands in 1758. In 1784, the renowned scientist and explorer, Academician Erik Gustav Laksman, discovered glass sand at the confluence of the Taltsinka and Angara rivers. Together with Alexander Baranov, a former Kargopol merchant and then manager of the Russian-American Company, Laksman built a glass factory in the Taltsinsky tract. In addition to utilitarian products, it also produced glass containers for transporting alcoholic beverages to Chukotka, Alaska, California, and the gold mines of Eastern Siberia. A settlement grew up near the factory, and in 1859, a wooden Orthodox church was built. Over time, cloth and porcelain factories emerged in the settlement, but the latter closed in the 1880s. Glass production, meanwhile, remained virtually stagnant due to a shortage of raw materials.
In 1955, part of the Taltsinsky tract, along with the factory and village located within it, fell within the future flood zone of the Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Station. The factory equipment was dismantled and transported to Tulun, where a glass factory was built. The area left after the flooding found new life only after construction of an open-air museum, which began in 1970.
Not only the Spasskaya Gateway Tower and the Kazan Church of the Ilimsk Fortress were transported to the future museum, but also other unique historical and architectural monuments of the Irkutsk region. On July 18, 1980, the wooden architecture museum welcomed its first visitors.
In 1994, the Taltsy Museum, which had previously been a branch of the Irkutsk Regional Museum of Local History, became an independent cultural institution under regional jurisdiction.
In 1995, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, the museum complex was designated as a site of historical and cultural heritage of federal (all-Russian) significance.
In 1999, the museum, previously open only during the summer tourist season, transitioned to year-round operation. That same year, it became the Methodological Center for Siberia and the Far East on the issues of open-air museums with architectural and ethnographic profiles.
Today, Taltsy is not only a place where folk architecture monuments are preserved, but also a popular tourist destination, visited by numerous Irkutsk residents and visitors alike. We hope that the work of generations of museum founders will be continued in new exhibition complexes.
RussiaIn the early 60s, during the construction of the Ust-Ilimsk Hydroelectric Power Station, it became necessary to save unique historical and architectural monuments of national significance – the Spasskaya Gateway Tower (1667) and the Kazan Gate Church (1679) of the Ilimsk Fortress, which were located in the zone of the upcoming flooding of the Ust-Ilimsk Reservoir.
During this period, the Soviet Union first raised the issue of preserving elements of traditional folk culture, particularly its unique wooden architecture, on a large scale. Efforts began to establish open-air museums in various regions of the country. The Irkutsk Region was among the few to succeed.
On January 9, 1966, the Irkutsk Regional Executive Committee decided to establish a museum of folk architecture. Moscow architect Galina Gennadyevna Oranskaya was tasked with selecting a site for the future museum. She chose the Taltsinskoye tract, at the confluence of the Angara and Taltsinka rivers. The first mention of the tract is found in information about the establishment of a farmstead of the Znamensky Convent on its lands in 1758. In 1784, the renowned scientist and explorer, Academician Erik Gustav Laksman, discovered glass sand at the confluence of the Taltsinka and Angara rivers. Together with Alexander Baranov, a former Kargopol merchant and then manager of the Russian-American Company, Laksman built a glass factory in the Taltsinsky tract. In addition to utilitarian products, it also produced glass containers for transporting alcoholic beverages to Chukotka, Alaska, California, and the gold mines of Eastern Siberia. A settlement grew up near the factory, and in 1859, a wooden Orthodox church was built. Over time, cloth and porcelain factories emerged in the settlement, but the latter closed in the 1880s. Glass production, meanwhile, remained virtually stagnant due to a shortage of raw materials.
In 1955, part of the Taltsinsky tract, along with the factory and village located within it, fell within the future flood zone of the Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Station. The factory equipment was dismantled and transported to Tulun, where a glass factory was built. The area left after the flooding found new life only after construction of an open-air museum, which began in 1970.
Not only the Spasskaya Gateway Tower and the Kazan Church of the Ilimsk Fortress were transported to the future museum, but also other unique historical and architectural monuments of the Irkutsk region. On July 18, 1980, the wooden architecture museum welcomed its first visitors.
In 1994, the Taltsy Museum, which had previously been a branch of the Irkutsk Regional Museum of Local History, became an independent cultural institution under regional jurisdiction.
In 1995, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, the museum complex was designated as a site of historical and cultural heritage of federal (all-Russian) significance.
In 1999, the museum, previously open only during the summer tourist season, transitioned to year-round operation. That same year, it became the Methodological Center for Siberia and the Far East on the issues of open-air museums with architectural and ethnographic profiles.
Today, Taltsy is not only a place where folk architecture monuments are preserved, but also a popular tourist destination, visited by numerous Irkutsk residents and visitors alike. We hope that the work of generations of museum founders will be continued in new exhibition complexes.