March 2012 : Tatarstan and Kazan (1 of 2)

Who knows :
- the town of Ak Bars team ?
- the town of Rubin team ?
- the name of this cathedral on Red Square in Moscow ?

 

The common answer is Kazan ! 

Ak Bars is the Kazan famous hockey team and Rubin the Kazan football team.

The Kazan cathedral on Red Square is a reconstruction (1990-1993) of the previous cathedral destroyed in 1936 by Stalin. The original was built in the 1630's to commemorate the liberation from Polish invaders.

Kazan is the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan (Russian Federation) nearly 800 km East of Moscow. The city is located on the left bank of the great Russian river, the Volga, on its confluence with the Kazanka River. 

From ancient times, Kazan had been the trading intermediary between the East and the West and it now plays an increasing role in the political and economical spheres as well as international events - like 27th Summer Universiade, July 6-17 2013 http://kazan2013.com/.
Kazan occupies 425 square kilometers of surface area. Its population is about 1,1 million people, more than 90 % of whom are Tatars and Russians.

What is the history of Kazan ?

922 - The state Volga Bolgaria accepted Islam religion as state religion. 985 - State Volga Bolgaria signed peace treaty with Kievan Russia. 1005 - Kazan city was founded. 1212 - First Tatar literature work - epic poem named "Kyssai-Yusuf" fromTatar poet Kul Gali. 1446 - Kazan city is the capital city of Kazan Khanate (name of Tatar state).

1552 - Ivan the Terrible (Russian Tsar) siege of Kazan;   Fall of the Kazan city. 1586 - "Eternal peace treaty" between Russia and Kazan city. 1708 - Russian Kazan is the capital of Kazan province. 1742 - The highest peak of persecution of Muslim people for their religion. 1774 - Kazan city was captured during the rebellion of peasants headed by E. Pugachev. 1788 - Catherine II returns the right to worship religion of Islam.

1801 - The provincial publishing began in Kazan city. 1804 - Kazan University was founded. 1886 - The birth of great Tatar people poet - G.Tukay. 1906 - First in Kazan city public theater performance played in Tatar national language. 1917 - "Republic beyond the Bulak" (historically, the Bulak Canal formed the boundary between the Russian and Tatar parts of Kazan ) was defeated by Red Army troops after the October 1917 Bolshevik revolution.

1990 - Tatarstan Republic signes declaration of sovereignty. 1994 - Two-way state treaty between Tatarstan and Russian Federation was signed. 2005 - Kazan city millennium celebrations.

What to visit in Kazan and when ?

Certainly, the best season to discover Kazan with the Volga and Kazanka river is during summer but it is really difficult to see all Russian historical towns during summer ! 
We did the choice to visit it during a 3 days weekend in March (spring but still snow and cold) and we could see all famous places.
As often, the best solution to reach Kazan from Moscow is the night train (> 12 hours for 800 kms) : select the "Kupe" choice (4 places) instead of "Platzkart" (open space wagon !) if you want to sleep a little bit during the trip. As usual, each wagon has service staff who is taking care of all and can provide you tea at any time, for example. 
When approaching Kazan, we could see from the train a beautiful church !

And also people were fishing on the Volga (photo at left), and we saw the football stadium of Rubin Kazan (further to indication by Kazan guy in the train). 
Snow at the arrival, not a surprise !

 

In order to optimize time, we selected a Russian organized tour (Kazan agency), what allowed us also to see in addition some sites outside Kazan. 
The first day was the visit of the town by bus and mainly the Kremlin.


We started with a walk along the pedestrian Baumann street, also called the "Arbat" street, in comparison with Moscou's one. On the map below, this street is colored in red.

We saw the Bogoyavlenskaya bell tower (middle) where in the times of Kazan khanate the trading quarter was located, and on its right (like the photo) the Bogoyavlenskaya church.

In the middle of Baumann street has been built the 0 km with main distances to towns like Moscow, Beijing, London, Berlin, New-York, ..., and also some stars (here, Ilam Shakirov, a Tatar singer) on the pavement like Walk of Fame on Hollywood Bld in Los Angeles, and also an old horse-drawn coach (a copy) !

We couldn't miss the statue of Chaliapin, known around the word, in front of the Chaliapin hotel.

What about Chaliapin ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA9hhemVXI8
Feodor Chaliapin (1873 -1938), bass-baritone singer, was born in Kazan. As a singer he started when he was 17 years old in a provincial opera troupe, and then when he was 22-23 at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg , and in Moscow (Bolshoi Theatre in 1899). Then he sang in "La Scala" in Milano (1901), in Roma (1904), in Monte-Carlo (1905), in Berlin (1907), in New York (1908), in Paris (1908). But during the Soviet Union period, he was unable to work "normally" and he decided to live in Paris in 1922. He died in Paris at the 1938. He sang opera arias, art songs, ... like "Faust" by Gounod, "Boris Godunov" by Moussorgski, "Dark Eyes", ... etc.

Then, the afternoon, we started the tour of the city by bus, the departure being in front the tourist office (yes, I never saw any in Russia but in Kazan it exists !). First stop was the National Cultural Centre (middle) near the Volga and Kazanka river.

Then the 2nd stop was the men's convent where is located the famous icon "Our lady of Kazan".

http://eng.kazan.eparhia.ru/monastyri/cross_exaltation/

After a giant fire which destroyed Kazan in 1579, the Virgin appeared in a prophetic dream to a 10-year-old girl named Matrona and told her where to find the precious icon "Our lady of Kazan" (lost since a while). As instructed, Matrona told the archbishop about her dream, but he did not take her seriously. After two more such dreams, on July 8, 1579, the girl and her mother dug up the icon, buried under the ashes of a house, where it had been hidden long before to save it from the Tatars.

The third stop was the Kremlin where we spent most of the time.

The wall and towers of Kazan Kremlin, including the remarkable Spasskaya Tower over the main entrance, were mostly built by master builders from Pskov, a city in the north-west of Russia, and thus it shares common features with the Pskov Kremlin.

Don't miss to see the Kul Sharif Mosque !

Four centuries ago the legendary many-minaret Kul Sharif Mosque decorated the capital of Kazan Khanate impressing everybody with its magnificence, grace, beauty and rich library. It was named in honor of its last Imam Seid Kul Sharif - one of Kazan defence leaders.
According to Dr.N.Khalitov's research the two-storied eight-minaret mosque was oriented towards the parts of the world.
When Ivan the Terrible captured the city the mosque was burnt down as well as other Moslem buildings of the Kazan Kremlin.
In 1995, the President of the Republic of Tatarstan signed the Decree launching the Kul Sharif Mosque's reconstruction project. On February 21, 1996, the foundation-stone was laid on the place of the erection of the mosque's building.

And the Söyembikä Tower ?

The name is coming from the regent (Söyembikä) of Tatar Khan and now she is the national hero of Tatarstan. Her name is associated first of all with Söyembikä Tower. 
Ivan the Terrible wanted to marry Söyembikä, so she agreed that if he built her a tower made with seven tiers within 7 days then she would marry him. Ivan the Terrible finished the tower as required. During wedding dinner, Söyembikä ask him to see her town a last time. She went up to the top of the tower and after looking out at her beautiful home of Kazan she became so overwhelmed with emotion for her people that she couldn't bear to marry the tsar and so, she jumped off.

The Tatarstan's Governor Palace, which was built in 1845-1848 years as the house of the Military Governor with premises for imperial apartments : it was the project of famous architect K.A.Ton, the author of The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow.

And a view on the Volga from the Kremlin,

If you want to see more photos about the Kremlin, have a look at http://www.kazan-kremlin.ru/en/gallery/


To terminate this first part of Kazan (next month, the second part ...), I invite you to listen Tatar music at a restaurant where there was a party !

END of part 1 about Kazan ...