2103 RUSSIA (Republic of Buryatia) - Red poppies in Buryatia mountains

Located in the south-central region of Siberia, along the eastern shore of Lake Baikal, Buryatia consists of a complex of mountain ranges (which cover 80% of the territory), plateaus, basins, and river valleys. It includes the Sayan Mountains in the panhandle, which rise to over 3,000 metres; the Khamar-Daban Range, which rises from the southern end of Lake Baikal; the Barguzin Mountains, which parallel the lake’s northeastern shore; the Vitim Plateau in the northeast; and the Yablonovo Range on the republic’s eastern border.

1774, 2033 RUSSIA (Irkutsk Oblast / Republic of Buryatia) - Lake Baikal (UNESCO WHS)

1774 Lake Baikal - Babushka Bay

Posted on 25.07.2015, 13.11.2015
Located in southern Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, Lake Baikal is the largest (by volume) freshwater lake in the world, containing roughly 20% of the world's unfrozen surface fresh water. Also, at 1,642m, it is the world's deepest lake, and is considered among the world's clearest and the world's oldest lake (25 million years). It was formed as an ancient rift valley, having the typical long crescent shape. Known as the "Galapagos of Russia", Baikal is home to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals, two-thirds of which can be found nowhere else in the world.

2033 Lake Baikal -The Turtle Rock

The lake is divided into three basins: North, Central, and South. The North and Central basins are separated by Academician Ridge, while the area around the Selenga Delta and the Buguldeika Saddle separates the Central and South basins. The lake is fed by as many as 330 inflowing rivers, and it drains into the Angara tributary of the Yenisei. It is completely surrounded by mountains. The Baikal Mountains on the north shore and the taiga are technically protected as a national park. It contains 27 islands; the largest, Olkhon, is 72 km long and is the third-largest lake-bound island in the world.

1888 RUSSIA (Republic of Buryatia) - A little Buryat dancer

With a population of about 500,000, the Buryats, the major northern subgroup of the Mongols, are the largest indigenous group in Siberia, mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic, but also in Mongolia, and in China. They share many customs with other Mongols, including nomadic herding, and erecting gers for shelter. After the Russian Revolution the Buryat’s open-pasture pastoralism was replaced by collective-farm cattle breeding.

0944 RUSSIA (Republic of Buryatia) - Ivolginsky datsan

In Buryatia, a republic located in the south-central region of Siberia, along the eastern shore of Lake Baikal, ethnic Russians make up two thirds of the population in nowadays, while the ethnic Buryats are 30%. Because many Slavs are Russian Orthodox, and most urban Buryats are either Buddhist or Orthodox, these two are the most widespread religions in the republic. The historical evidences give reason to believe that, from the 2nd century BCE, proto-Mongol peoples were familiar with Buddhism. Anyway, at the beginning of the 17th century, Tibetan Buddhism penetrated from Mongolia to reach the Buryat population of the area just east of Lake Baikal, and over a century it spread throughout the region. A second branch came directly from Tibet, from the Labrang Monastery in Amdo, so the Buddhism in Buryatia is the northernmost extension of Mahayana Buddhism in Central Asia, primarily the Gelug tradition from Tibet.