Irkutsk's monument to Emperor Alexander III was erected in 1908 to commemorate the emperor's decision to build the Trans-Siberian Railway.
In 1920 the statue was removed and destroyed. It was briefly replaced with a Lenin Statue and then with a statue of the First Pioneers of Siberia. After the fall of the Soviet Union a decision was taken to return Alexander and a new five metre statue was created and installed in 2003 on the 100th anniversary of the Trans-Siberian Railway