Regional art Museum named after V. P. Sukachev Irkutsk is one of the oldest museums in Russia. It is located in the historical centre of the city, occupying two buildings. The Museum collection features an extensive art gallery, owned by the Irkutsk head, Chairman of the East-Siberian Department of the Imperial Russian geographical society (SORGO), the largest benefactor - V. P. Sukachev collected them at the end of second half XIX art.

The first pictures painted by Russian artists, student V. Sukachev acquired in St. Petersburg in 1870, this date is traditionally considered to be the year of creation of the art Museum. Eventually, among the acquired pieces appeared the work of Aivazovsky, Repin, Maksimova, Brullov, Myasoedova, Shishkin, as well as copies of paintings by Western European painters Murillo, Raphael, Correggio and Rubens ordered in the museums of Florence and Munich.

In 1920, the gallery was nationalized and became part of the City Museum, which opened in may, 1920, during the twentieth century in Irkutsk collection of exhibits was received from the State Museum Fund, and various public and state organizations not only Irkutsk and Moscow.

Currently in the Museum named after V. P. Sukachev, there are over 22 thousand works of art of different times and peoples. The collection presents a small but very rare collection of monuments of Paleolithic art in the NBA and also one of the most significant in Siberia collections of wooden sculptures and icons of the XV-XVIII centuries, among which the original icon of Siberian letters.