A convent was founded here in 1689. Construction of the stone building of the monastery was completed in 1762 in place of the wooden one. Of the buildings here the Znamenskii church is in best condition. In Siberia there were formerly 15 convents, of which the one in Irkutsk and the Yeniseiskii were the largest. In the 1920s, the temple of the Irkutsk convent was turned into a workshop for hydroaviators. There is a necropolis on the grounds. G.I.Shelikhov and E.I.Trubetskaia are both buried here. E.I.Trubetskaia turned down the rights of a citizen, her wealth and position in society to be with her husband. Next to the monument to E.I.Trubetskaia is a four-cornered stone marking the place where three of the Trubetskii children, Sofia, Vladimir and Nikita, are buried. Not far off from here is the moument to Admiral Kolchak and the cross marking the place where he was shot. St.Innocent, first Bishop of Irkutsk. He became the first in the line of Irkutsk bishops. After his death he was proclaimed a saint on account of the righteous life he led. In 1921 his coffin was opened by Red Army soldiers. In 1990, his imperishable body was found in Yaroslavl, and brought back to Irkutsk. They are preserved in the Znamenskii monastery.
