Editing Irkutsk (section)

==Coat of arms==
{{No sources section|date=November 2023}}[[File:Coat of arms of Irkutsk 1790.svg|thumb|The original version of the coat of arms]]

The [[coat of arms]] of Irkutsk features an old symbol of [[Transbaikal|Dauria]]: a [[Siberian tiger]] with a [[sable]] in his mouth. When the coat of arms was devised in 1690, the animal was described as a tiger ("babr", a bookish word of Persian derivation) with a sable in his mouth. This image had been used by the [[Yakutsk]] customs office from about 1642. It has its origin in a seal of the [[Siberia Khanate]] representing a sable and showcasing the fact that Siberia (or rather [[Yugra]]) was the main source of sable fur throughout the [[Middle Ages]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

By the mid-19th century, the word "babr" had fallen out of common usage, but it was still recorded in the [[Armorial of the Russian Empire]]. Furthermore, the tigers became extinct in this part of Siberia. In the 1870s, a high-placed French heraldist with a limited command of Russian assumed that "babr" was a misspelling of "bobr", the Russian word for "[[beaver]]", and changed the wording accordingly. This modification engendered a long dispute between the local authorities, who were so confused by the revised description that they started to depict the "babr" as a fabulous animal, half-tiger and half-beaver.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

The Soviets abolished the image altogether, but it was restored following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}