Kazan’

It’s the date every schoolkid learns by heart – “1552, the Fall of Kazan’ to an army led by Ivan the Terrible”. Why was Kazan’ even being besieged?  Nearly three centuries earlier Russia had been invaded and conquered by the Mongolians – but the Mongolians were only interested in receiving regular Tribute payments, and had no interest in ruling distant cities. Instead they appointed the Tartars as their local overlords – although Moscow remained the capital, it was subject to the Tartar Khans, from their khanate city of Kazan’. An inheritance dispute between rival Mongolian chieftains gave the Russians the moment of weakness they’d waited for – they overthrew the Tartars in Moscow. But to make sure it never happened again, they followed the Tartars back to their homelands of Kazan, and destroyed the city utterly.  By the C18th, however, all this had been forgiven and forgotten – Kazan had become a centre of learning for the Tartars, and books, reference works and other materials were printed in the Tartar language (related to other Asiatic steppe languages, and without any connections to Russian or W European languages).

Don’t miss in and around Kazan’…

The Kazan’ Kremlin

The Kazan’ Kremlin is at the historic centre of the city – unfortunately many of the most potentially interesting buildings were given to various city administration departments as offices during the Communist period – and these departments don’t want to vacate them merely to suit the very few foreign visitors who ever come to Kazan’ – so you can only see them from outside. “Kreml” (which is how the Kremlin is named in Russian) is in any case a Tartar word by origin, that was taken into use in Russian.

The Soyembika Tower...

... is a mysterious leaning structure within the Kremlin, named after the last Queen of Tartarstan – there are conflicting explanations of the tower’s significance and purpose.

The Qol Sarif Mosque and other sites ...

The Qol Sarif Mosque has been rebuilt inside the Kremlin. The Presidential Palace of the Republic of Tartarstan is also rebuilt here.

Adjacent to the Kremlin is the elaborate baroque church of SS Peter & Paul. And di you know, the old centre of Kazan is built around an C18th canal system.