Central pl Lenina isn’t really a square so much as a jumbled collection of beautifully restored historic buildings interspersed with banal Soviet concrete lumps. The frustrated Lenin statue , now relegated to a traffic circle, points at the ugly concrete of the Drama Theatre , apparently demanding ‘build more like that one’. Fortunately, nobody’s listening. Topped with a golden angel, in a second circle beside Lenin, is the Iverskaya Chapel , whose celebrated icon is dubbed ‘Tomsk’s Spiritual Gateway’.
The drama theatre is flanked by the splendid 1784 Epiphany Cathedral , the former trading arches , and the elegant 1802 Hotel Magistrat.
