Exhibition Dedicated to INRTU's 95th Anniversary Opens at Irkutsk History Museum

A grand opening of the exhibition “The Contribution of INRTU to the Development of the City and the Country” took place at the Irkutsk History Museum named after A. M. Sibiryakov. The exposition, dedicated to the 95th anniversary of INRTU, features the university's history, mineralogical discoveries, and engineering developments by its members.

Rector Mikhail Korniakov gave a welcoming speech:

“95 years ago, INRTU was created to train personnel for the industry of Irkutsk Region. INRTU graduates have been creating aircraft, modern technologies, and equipment, and have been engaged in large-scale construction. Our task is to continue this history.
I express my special gratitude to the Irkutsk History Museum. The exhibition will become an important resource for career guidance for schoolchildren and will help educate a new generation of engineers who will continue to develop the domestic industry”.

The grand opening of the exhibition was attended by the Mayor of Irkutsk, Ruslan Bolotov, who emphasized:

“INRTU is a legendary place for our city. Many citizens have family histories and professional paths connected to it. The university has trained a whole galaxy of outstanding specialists who have become the gold fund of Irkutsk and the entire country. I particularly want to highlight the importance of preserving traditions – it is this that allows the university to implement large-scale projects and create a reliable foundation for future development”.

As noted by the Director of the Irkutsk History Museum, Sergey Dubrovin, INRTU graduates have always solved the country's key tasks – from defending the Motherland during the Great Patriotic War to restoring the national economy:

The project was organized by the Director of INRTU Museums, Polina Loginova, and the exposition was designed by Yulia Novikova.

A guide from the INRTU Mineralogical Museum named after A.V. Sidorov, Zulfiya Taradaeva, drew attention to the uniqueness of the exhibits, which include minerals from the university's splendid collection, historical measuring instruments, rare books, original souvenirs, and gifts from partner enterprises and international guests who visited INRTU. Archival photographs and documents reflecting the stages of the university's formation, from its foundation in 1930 to its current status as a national research university, can also be seen here.

The exposition includes a variety of instruments, for example, a photometer FM-56, which measures the transmission of light quantities of solid and liquid transparent bodies, as well as a three-second vertical Repsold circle, used for precise measurements of zenith distances.

The exhibition “The Contribution of INRTU to the Development of the City and the Country” will be open until the end of 2025. Visitors are welcome at the museum at 16A, Frank-Kamenetskogo Street. Career guidance events for schoolchildren and vocational school students are planned. The kids will be able to join historical quests and get acquainted with rare educational tools used by students of the last century.

Background:

INRTU was founded in 1930 as the Siberian Mining Institute. The first university in Eastern Siberia was focused on training specialists for the mining and metallurgical industries. Subsequently, the institute expanded its activities through new directions. Since the 1970s, scientific schools began to form, research laboratories were launched, and active cooperation with industry developed.

Throughout its existence, INRTU has trained 250 thousand highly qualified specialists.

Currently, about 18 thousand people study at the university, among whom 1.5 thousand are international students from 50 countries worldwide. INRTU is among the 100 universities participating in the federal program “Priority 2030”, ensuring Russia's technological leadership.