#verkholensk

[mostly-history]

An old photo (date unknown) of Verkholensk, in Irkutsk Oblast (Siberia).  Many proletarian revolutionaries were exiled here in the past.  Verkholensk was founded in 1641 as a fort on the upper Lena River, west of Lake Baikal, as part of the conquest of Siberia.

[mostly-history]

Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ (Verkholensk, Siberia).  It was built in 1718.

This five-domed cathedral is the only surviving church in Verkholensk.  There was the Church of the Resurrection of Christ (wooden, 1927 - 2007) and the Church of the Epiphany of the Lord (stone, 1792 - 1995) but neither have been preserved.  This cathedral is barely supported by the diocese, major repairs are needed, and services are only occasionally held.

Verkholensk lost its town status in 1925 and became a village.  The population gradually declined, with 4,500 people at the beginning of the 1900s, and only 600 a century later.  The residents engage in subsistence farming for their own food.

The Cossacks founded Verkholensk as a fortress in 1641, as part of the Russian conquest of Siberia.  In more modern times, Leon Trotsky spent time here during his first exile to Siberia, as did Felix Dzerzhinsky.

[mostly-history]

Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ (Verkholensk, Siberia).