Cheremkhovo is a Russian town (since 1917), the administrative center of the Cheremkhovo District of the Irkutsk Region.

The town is located on the Irkutsko- Cheremkhovskaya Plain, 130 km to the northwest of Irkutsk. It has a railway station and a highway junction.

Cheremkhovo with the population of 51 597 people (as of 2013) takes the area of 114 sq.km.

History of Cheremkhovo

It was founded in 1772 as Cheremkhovo Village at a post station on the Moscow road and was named after the river Cheremkhovka (Cheremshana) called so because of abundance of bird cherry (“cheremukha” in Russian) bushes on its banks.

Till the late 19th century coal fields of the Irkutsk (Cheremkhovsky) basin were little prospected and not developed. The first mine was opened in 1896 and the coal was transported by barges on River Angara to the Nikolaevsky ironworks plant. Due to the laying of the Trans-Siberian Railway more and more small mines with working settlements near them sprang up (by 1906 there were 89 of them).

Cheremkhovo has been a town since 1917.

Architecture and Sights

The town consists of separate miners’ settlements stretching for over 10 km. Downtown is densely built up with brick and large-panel houses. The town is surrounded with gob piles, deep opencast collieries and rock heaps from all sides.

In the Cheremkhovo District there is the village of Golumet with St. Nicholas Church.