Baikal Museum, Listvyanka

A lovely museum but only 3 stars because most of the great exhibits were lost on me, being only written in Russian. I appreciate language complexities of tourists in this region - cant have everything in 5 languages!! The exhibits are really comprehensive and professional range of displays. The aquarium was a lovely surprise as was the virtual "submarine trip" - worth the extra fee

Not much to see. The exposition is a combination of screens with bronze monuments standing aside. The only part that we liked was a short lecture (in Russian) with a microscope. The place is crowded by Chinese tourists that seem to get the vibe. My picture shows one of the exhibitions. Most of the content is unavailable for a non-Russian speaker.

It's a wonderful place to learn more about lake Baikal. Rich information and inspired us about this important place in Russia. It can be found up above the space.

This is the only modern museum with a good and interesting exhibition and planty of important information of the at least 8 museums, I have visited in the last 3 weeks between Tomsk and Irkutsk. Unfortunately most of explanations are only in Russian. Clearly not enough English and some mineral names are wrong. The names lack chemical formulas. But good models and nature exhibits with aquaria, good maps, and even living Baikal seals, unfortunately in a much too small basin.

It is probably great if you speak Russian. However, there was minimum of help for people who do not understand russian. The worst part is the fact that they have two Baikal seals swimming between two very, very small fish tanks - which is animal cruelty. Would not have visited the museum, if I knew that was happening...