Day 3 and 4 : Kazan

Day 3 and 4 Kazan, Train Kazan to Ekaterinenburg

We arrive in Kazan at 8am. The pleasant ‘Bilyal Palace’ hotel will be our base during 1 ½ days in the capital of Tatarstan.

This area of Russia was originally settled by people of Turkic and Bulgarian descent.  Islam became the dominant religion in the 10thcentury and in the 13thcentury the region was overrun by the Mongols. Kazan became an independent khanate and part of the sphere of influence of the Mongolian Golden Horde.

In 1552 Ivan the Terrible conquered Kazan and destroyed much of the city. Kazan was to develop into one of Russia’s main cultural and economic centres, as well as becoming the home of the country’s third university. 
The Tatar population was initially forced to live on the southern side of the Bulak Canal crossing the city. Catherine the Great later allowed them to settle across the city and little is left today of the original Tatar settlement. A few colourfully decorated wooden houses have been restored and remind us of what this area must have looked like in the 17thcentury…

After walking along Tatarstan Street, refurbished and now graced with a beautiful new boardwalk overlooking the Lake of Nizhny Kaban, probably built for the occasion of the world cup, we start our tour of the old Tatar quarter.  We visit the old mosque of Mardzhani built in 1767, the first stone mosque allowed within the city limits of Russian Kazan. 

The Waterfront on Nizhny Kaban Lake





 The Old Tatar Quarter








Old Mardzhani Mosque











After enjoying a black thyme tea at a lounge bar along the boardwalk, we head for Kazan’s Kremlin, a complex a lot smaller that the Moscow Kremlin, but beautiful and impressive in the simplicity of its shapes and forms, built by Ivan the Terrible availing himself of the skilled work of the architect that designed St. Basil’s in Moscow. 
The whitewashed entrance tower reminds me of similar architecture I have seen in 16th/17thcentury fortifications in Bulgaria and Romania. 

The Kazan Kremlin


We start by visiting the Kul Sharif Mosque recently completed and named in honour of the Imam that died trying to defend Kazan from the Russians in the 16thcentury. The mosque houses an interesting exhibition on the origins and development of Islamic Kazan, but it is the buiding itself that steals the show. You turn the corner and this impressive building suddenly towers over you, showing off the genius of its very simple but captivating geometry of domes and minarets.

Kazan Kremlin - Kul Sharif Mosque




The Church of the Annunciation is also part of the Kazan Kremlin complex. It was designed by Postnik Yakovlev of St. Basil fame. The faithful pass by one by one lighting candles adding to the mysticism of the church interior, dominated by an impressive iconostasis dating back to the 16thcentury.
Kazan Kremlin - Church of the Annunciation





We leave the Kremlin. The ‘banya’ (sauna) awaits us at the hotel, followed by an excellent dinner at a Tatar ‘fusion’ restaurant. We also manage to find a Salsa bar to end the day with 2 mojitos and some booty shaking to 'Despacito'!

Salsa Night in Kazan


The Kazanis are good looking folk, a melange of the darker Tatar mixed with fair Slavic features and green eyes of the Russians who over the centuries moved to Tatarstan. 
Although I have the impression that the city has received a recent makeover courtesy of the World Cup, there is a sense of this being quite a well-off place, having benefitted from the oil and gas found aplenty in this region. Not all of the profits are making their way to Moscow…

On our 2ndday in Kazan we decide to concentrate on the city’s museum. The National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan runs through the region’s history from prehistoric times to the 10thcentury and the arrival of Islam, and exhibits a multitude of archeological relics, ancient utensils and weapons, as well as later costumes of the early Islamic days. We also witness the re-enactment of a famous historic battle between Cossacks and Tatars in the museum courtyard! 

National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan

Time to leave Kazan, but not before we visit the beautiful Church of St. Peter and Paul’s and its fantastic gold rimmed iconostasis, built in the 1720s.

                                                                                              Church of St. Peter and St. Paul



Kazan Main Street


Comments

  1. Unknown4 January 2019 at 11:18

    Hi Tania,
    Can't wait to read more as you continue on this fascinating trip. Love your descriptions, especially of Moscow as for us they brought back many memories of our trip there.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Love from
    Pat and Sandra

    ReplyDelete

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