Irkutsk is one of 21 Russian cities where the Eternal Flame wasn’t lost. The flame in the memorial complex was fired during the 30th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War on the 9th May 1975. The relevant act was signed on the 29th of April 1975 at the Moscow Soviet, and the envoys of Irkutsk received a capsule with Moscow soil burned by the fights of 1941 and fired a torch. The inscription carved on marble slabs of the monument says: “Siberia, you forged victory together with all people”. Every year Irkutsk schoolchildren stand guard of honour next to the Eternal Flame.