INRTU Urban Planning Team Returns from the First Siberian Route Expedition
The team of the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of INRTU returned in the summer of 2023 fr om the first expedition along the Siberian Route. The explorers travelled from Usolsky to Ziminsky District in search of information for a future digital route map and atlas album.
The Siberian Route is an ancient land route that connected the European and Asian territories of Russia, reaching the borders with China. The section of the road from Siberia to Moscow is called the Moscow Highway. The employees of INRTU are exploring the section of the road that ran mainly along the Irkutsk Governorate.
The research is being supervised by Eugenia Pulyaevskaya, Head of the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning. According to her, the project is being implemented with a grant from the Irkutsk regional branch of the Russian Geographical Society, received as a result of the students' project activities. The result of the work should be a map-diagram attached to significant places on the Siberian Route. Researchers are also going to prepare an illustrative atlas album mock-up on the history of the Rout.
In the spring of 2023 the students made a presentation at a scientific conference. In the summer, they went on an expedition together with Eugenia Pulyaevskaya. In a week the team drove along the route: Telma – Taiturka – Mikhailovka – Cheremhovo – Zalari – Zima - Kimiltei. The students communicated with representatives of municipalities, museum and cultural workers.
“We learned a lot of interesting things. It turns out that there were several traces of the road. In some settlements its fragments have been preserved even on the central streets, and somewhere they don't show up at all. In the village of Mikhailovka we were shown a section of the route, wh ere a factory was built in the years of the Soviet Union. We also met people who are keenly interested in studying the route. In the Irkutsk Region there is a group engaged in the installation of mileposts. In Usolsky District we talked to a teacher who together with schoolchildren goes to settlement and conducts local history studies. Our task is to identify the historical path, find traces of the old Siberian Route and show its role in the economic development of the region and the formation of the settlement system. If all these historical facts are put together in a historical puzzle, you could look at the Irkutsk Region with fresh eyes,” - says Eugenia.The team plans to continue studying the Siberian Route. The aim is to gather a collection of panoramic views of picturesque places and provide a tourist route through the sights of the Irkutsk Governorate.
“We express our gratitude to the district administration employees. They responded to the proposed initiative, joined the work of the expedition, shared materials and helped organize meetings with local experts, tourism departments, museums and libraries,” - added Eugenia Pulyaevskaya.The next expedition is planned for this September. INRTU students are going to explore the section of the Route in Slyudyanka. In the town they will meet the initiative group that will set up a milepost. Also this fall INRTU undergraduates will join the project. They plan to get to the Krasnoyarsk Territory together with the participants. The global challenge for the future is to travel along the historical path to Tomsk.
