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The south side of Baikal, where the village of Tankhoy is located, is considered one of the most beautiful places on earth. In addition to the magnificent views of Lake Baikal and the Khamar-Daban mountain range, there are some amazing places that you should definitely visit in Tankhoy.
To get started, visit the Visitor Center “Baikal Reserve” – one of the best projects implemented as part of the national program for the development of educational and ecological tourism. The visitor centre is located within the historic port of Tankhoy. It is a modern, well-equipped world-class tourist center, the “calling card” of the protected areas of the Baikal region. Through the huge stained glass windows you can enjoy a panoramic view of the beautiful and unique Baikal. The visitor centre is located at 10-minute walking distance from the hotel Tankhoy.
You can read more about the center here.
The history of the village Tankhoy begins with the construction of the port.
At the end of the 19th century, the Russian government decided to build the Trans-Siberian Railway (Transsib) or the Great Siberian Route — a railway through Eurasia, connecting Moscow (the southern route) with Russia’s largest East Siberian and Far Eastern industrial cities.
During the construction of build the Trans-Siberian Railway, Baikal became the main and formidable obstacle. Railway tracks reached to its shores from the West and the East and in order to connect these two branches, it was decided to build a rail ferry crossing between the port of Baikal and the opposite shore, which at first had three points-Pereemnaya, Mishikha and Mysovaya. Then, in 1903, the port of Tankhoy was built and the path became much shorter, since the distance from it to the port of Baikal on the other side was the shortest, of 42 kilometers long. Between the ports the unique ship cruised – the icebreaker, which was named “Baikal”.
The rail ferry and ice crossing over Baikal is an outstanding engineering, transport and military-strategic project, successfully implemented by our country at the beginning of the 20th century.
Before the construction of the Baikal rail ferry crossing, there was a need for detailed hydrographic surveys of the lake (1895–1903). The hydrographic expedition of the Baikal Lake still remains the largest and most prolonged on the Baikal. The main base of the expedition was the port of Tankhoy.
The Trans-Siberian Railway and its ferry service ensured the integrity and unity of Russia.
During the work of the Baikal crossing Tankhoy was visited by many famous people of that era: the Grand Dukes Kirill Vladimirovich and Boris; the commander in chief of the Manchurian Army General Aleksey Kuropatkin, a famous doctor Eugene Botkin; a writer Vikenty Veresaev; a painter Vasily Vereshchagin; a Russian military leader Pyotr Wrangel ; a naval commander Stepan Makarov, a writer and journalist Vasily Nemirovich-Danchenko, the Spanish Infante Jaime de Bourbon; the Duke Alexander Scherbatov; a photojournalist Viktor Bulla; an artist and press photographer Vladimir Taburin and others.
Several historical buildings have been preserved in Tankhoy, which allow you to see the level of engineering development at the beginning of the 20th century and demonstrate the vivid style of Russian industrial architecture. First of all, this is a water intake building on the lake, where a steam engine for water supplying has been preserved. At the platform of the modern station you can see two water towers, which were intended to fill the locomotives with water. The 19-meter west tower was built first and carried water from the Osinovka River. The eastern tower appeared in 1911–1916 during the construction of the second track. Water was taken for it from Baikal.
You can read and see the detailed history of the Baikal crossing here.
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