Two houses once belonging to exiled Decembrist nobles — Volkonsky House and Trubetskoy House — have been preserved as house-museums. The interiors are largely intact: pianos, French clocks, and carefully catalogued libraries all survive, painting a vivid picture of aristocratic exile in 19th-century Siberia.
Decembrist Museums
Preserved homes of exiled Decembrist nobles in Siberian Irkutsk
A story
After the failed uprising of December 1825, Tsar Nicholas I exiled the surviving conspirators to Siberia. Many settled in Irkutsk, bringing with them French furniture, libraries, and progressive ideas that profoundly shaped the city's culture. The wives who followed their husbands into exile — voluntarily renouncing their titles — became legendary figures in Russian history.