The Decembrist Museum and the Volkonskys, Irkutsk, Siberia
People respond to adversity in different ways. Some simply give up, others cope the best they can, but a few special individuals turn their adversity into opportunity. Such is the example of Maria Volkonskaya, wife of Prince Sergei Volkonsky, one of the leaders of the ill-fated 1825 uprising against the Tsar of Russia. The Volkonsky story is now immortalized in the Decembrist Museum, previously their home-in-exile in Irkutsk, Siberia. In 1825 Russia was emerging from a victorious war against Napoleon….