Alumni Martin Kyrle (BA History, 1957) and Michael Roberts (BA General Arts, 1958) have published a book to mark the centenary of the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway, in 1916.
Jottings from the Trans-Siberian Railway, tells the story of the pair’s travels on an adventurous foray across Siberia to Mongolia.
Their adventures include time in Moscow, where they visited the headquarters of the Orthodox Church, at Sergiev Posad, before embarking on the railway to Tobolsk – a town that boasts having the only stone kremlin in Siberia.
In Irkutsk, the pair toured two mid-19th century houses formerly owned by aristocrats exiled for their part in the Decembrist revolt in 1825. They visited the Taltsy Open-Air Museum, took a trip on the Circum-Baikal railway and spent four days on an island in the lake. The lake is the deepest in the world and contains one-fifth of the world’s fresh water. En route they stopped off to meet a shaman and receive his blessing.
Explanations of Russian history appear alongside descriptions of numerous encounters from their trip upon one of arguably the most famous railways in the world.
Martin Kyrle and Michael Roberts.
Hardback, 290pp, 220 colour photos, 3 maps.
Published by Sarsen Press, Winchester, £14.95.
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