Editing Irkutsk Oblast (section)

===20th century===
[[File:Иркутск. Часовня Святителя Иннокентия.jpg|thumb|right|Irkutsk. Chapel of St. Innocent, c. 1910]]
[[File:ИрГСХА.JPG|thumb|right|The orphanage of E. Medvednikova is the first women's educational institution in Siberia. Irkutsk, Timiryazeva street, 59]]
[[File:ЛД Байкал.jpg|thumb|right|Ice hockey arena in Irkutsk]]
The city was damaged and influenced by the political events of the twentieth century – the Russian revolution, the 1917 [[October Revolution]], the Civil war and the [[Great Patriotic War]] (as the Soviet Union's part in WW2 is commonly referred to in Russia. This is distinct from WW2, in that it began with 1941 [[Operation Barbarossa]], whereas WW2 began with the September 1939 [[invasion of Poland]]).

Since the 1930s the industrial construction of the city had begun. Mechanical engineering plants, the air plant, brick and concrete plants, tea fabric, and food industry plants were being built. Economic development of the city contributed to scientific, educational and cultural development. The first Higher education in Eastern Siberia, [[Irkutsk State University]] was founded in 1918. Its departments were developing as independent institutes: medical, pedagogical, finance-economical. In 1930 the metallurgic institute was opened, in 1934 the agricultural institute was organized.

The early Soviets educated women in traditional professions like nursing and primary education. At right is the Irkutsk orphanage named for E. Medvednikova, which served both as an eleemosynary institution and educational facility.

Since the 1950s a rapid development of the city of Irkutsk took place. In 1947 streetcar routes were opened in the city and trolleybus routes were opened in 1972. In 1958 a TV center was established. The city's larger districts and micro regions construction period began. New districts such as Baykalsky, Solnechny, Yubileyny, Primorsky, Akademgorodok and others were created.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.manus.baikal.ru/eng/essay.htm|title=Essay about Irkutsk|access-date=December 5, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303222053/http://www.manus.baikal.ru/eng/essay.htm|archive-date=March 3, 2016|df=mdy-all}}</ref>