National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan

This museum was opened on April 5, 1895 and for a long time was known as the Kazan City Scientific and Industrial Museum. It is based on the private collection of Andrei Likhachev (1832-1890), well-known archaeologist, historian, collector, as well as on exhibits of the 1890 scientific and industrial exhibition. On the three floors of the museum there are scientific, literary and musical exhibits directly related to the history and development of Tatarstan. Here you can see the carriage of Catherine II, on which she drove around the city during her visit to Kazan, and the corner of the Tatar philosopher Shigabutdin Mardjani. From the day of its foundation, the National Museum has occupied the building of the Gostiny Dvor (Shopping Arcade), dating back to the mid-16th century. KAZAN, REPUBLIC OF TATARSTAN, RUSSIAN FEDERATION

The city of Kazan was initially a small frontier fortress that after all challenging vicissitudes of history was preserved and became today the largest city. Kazan that emerged at the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries turned into the capital of the Kazan Khanate 400 years later, and then played an important part in the history of Russia.

Kazan, located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, is a multicultural and multi-religious city where the interaction of Tatar and Russian cultures has evolved for centuries. The mixture of two cultures and religions created something distinctive, characteristic only of Kazan, and now it is reflected in its unique architectural image.

The most striking example of such interaction, based on the principles of the balance between cultures and faiths, is the Archi- National Library of the Republic of Tatarstan (Ushkova’s Mansion) tectural Complex of the Kazan Kremlin, which was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000. One of the criteria for The mansion of Zinaida Ushkova is one of the most impressing sights this is the following: “The Kazan Kremlin and its key monuments represent an outstanding example of a synthesis of Tatar and of the Kazan center and is an object of cultural heritage of federal Russian influences in architecture, integrating different cultures (Bulgar, the Golden Horde, Tatar, Italian, and Russian), as well importance. In 1919, it became the central building of the National as showing the impact of Islam and Christianity”. Library of the Republic of Tatarstan and is now open to visitors and tourists. In 2005, Kazan celebrated its 1000th anniversary. The exact date of the emergence of Kazan was set thanks to a large-scale scientific research. Thus, the archaeological excavations on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin led to the discovery of an Arab dirham and a Czech coin, dated back to the first half of the 10th century.

The main stages of the urban reorganization of Kazan are inextricably linked with the main stages of its formation − from the small Volga Bulgarian fortress to the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan within the Russian Federation. The most important stages of its formation as a political, economic and cultural center include:

1. Ancient and pre-Mongol Kazan (from ancient times to the 13th century); 2. Golden Horde Kazan (13-15th centuries); 3. Kazan as the capital of the Kazan Khanate (15th century - 1552); 4. Kazan as the center of the Kazan Region ruled by governor-general (1552-1708); 5. Kazan as the center of the Kazan Governorate (1708-1917); 6. Kazan as the capital of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1917-1992); 7. Kazan as the capital of the constituent Republic of Tatarstan (since 1992).

In recent years the country, the republic and the city have faced been major changes. Today, Kazan is among 13 largest mega- lopolises of the Russian Federation, retaining its position as the third most important cultural and educational center of Russia since the beginning of the 19th century.

Alexandrovsky Passage

The Alexandrovsky Passage is one of the most beautiful buildings of Kazan that was built in 1880-1883 by order of merchant Aleksandrov. The project was designed by Vladimir Suslov and Nikolay Pozdeev, the building was created by the famous Petersburg architect Heinrich Rusch. This is one of the Russian passages, a vivid landmark of the city. The owner of the building has something to be proud of − apart from architectural outlandishness it struck the eye by a set of innovations. The house had an elevator, air heating, electricity.

The Al-Mardjani Mosque

This is one of the mosques in the Old Tatar Settlement of Kazan. It is located between Nasyri Street and the shores of Kaban Lake. The mosque was the historical and iconic embodiment of the emergence of multi-confessional tolerant society in Russia, proclaimed by the Em- press Catherine II at the end of the 18th century. It was also the largest jameh mosque in Kazan for more than two centuries and nowadays remains the historical center of the Tatar and Muslim spirituality of Tatarstan. The building is designed according to the traditions of the Tatar provincial baroque style medieval architecture of mosques with a minaret on the roof. The two-storey mosque has a three-tiered minaret. The facade and interior design combines the “Petersburg” baroque architecture and the ornamental motifs of the Tatar decorative art.