Kazan (English) Казань (Russian) Казан (Tatar)
-  City[1]  - City of republic significance[1]
Various places in Kazan
Kazan Location of Kazan in the Republic of Tatarstan
Coordinates: 55°47′N 49°10′E / 55.783°N 49.167°E / 55.783; 49.167Coordinates: 55°47′N 49°10′E / 55.783°N 49.167°E / 55.783; 49.167
Coat of arms	Flag
City Day	August 30[2]
Administrative status (as of December 2011)
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Republic of Tatarstan[1]
Administratively subordinated to	city of republic significance of Kazan[1]
Capital of	Republic of Tatarstan[citation needed]
Administrative center of	city of republic significance of Kazan[1]
Municipal status (as of January 2012)
Urban okrug	Kazan Urban Okrug[3]
Administrative center of	Kazan Urban Okrug[3]
Mayor[4]	Ilsur Metshin[4]
Representative body	City Duma[5]
Statistics
Area	425.3 km2 (164.2 sq mi)[citation needed]
Population (2010 Census, preliminary)	1,143,546 inhabitants[6]
- Rank in 2010	8th
Population (2002 Census)	1,105,289 inhabitants[7]
- Rank in 2002	8th
Density	2,689 /km2 (6,960 /sq mi)[8]
Time zone	MSK (UTC+04:00)[9]
Founded	1005[10] (see text)
Postal code(s)	420xxx[11]
Dialing code(s)	+7 843[12]
Official website
Kazan on WikiCommons

Kazan (Russian: Каза́нь; IPA: [kɐˈzanʲ]; Tatar Cyrillic: Казан, Latin: Qazan) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,161,308, it is the eighth most populous city in Russia,^[6] while the metropolitan area has a population of 1.57 million (2011).^{[citation needed]} Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia.

The Kazan Kremlin is a World Heritage Site. In 2005, the Medal "In Commemoration of the 1000th Anniversary of Kazan" was established by Russia to denote this landmark event. The multi-ethnic city is is honored by UNESCO^[13] and famous for Muslims and Christians living side-by-side in peace.

In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the right to brand itself as the "Third Capital" of Russia.^[14] In 2009 it was chosen as the "Sports capital of Russia"^[15] and it still is referred to as such.^[16] The city will host 2013 Summer Universiade, 2015 World Aquatics Championships, and 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Etymology[link]

The origin of the name Kazan is uncertain. The most accepted legends derive it from the Bulgar Turkic (and also modern Tatar) word qazan, which means 'boiler' or 'cauldron'.

History[link]

Middle Ages[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

There is a long-running dispute as to whether Kazan was founded by the Muslim Volga Bulgars in the early Middle Ages or by the Tatars of the Golden Horde in the mid-15th century, as written records before the latter period are sparse. If there was a Bulgar city on the site, estimates of the date of its foundation range from the early 11th century to the late 13th century (see Iske Qazan). It was a border post between Volga Bulgaria and two Finnic tribes, the Mari and the Udmurt. Another vexatious question is where the citadel was built originally. Archaeological explorations have produced evidence of urban settlement in three parts of the modern city: in the Kremlin; in Bişbalta at the site of the modern Zilantaw monastery; and near the Qaban lake. The oldest of these seems to be the Kremlin.

If Kazan existed in the 11th and 12th centuries, it could have been a stop on a Volga trade route from Scandinavia to Baghdad. It was a trade center, and possibly a major city for Bulgar settlers in the Kazan region, although their capital was further south at the city of Bolğar.

After the Mongols devastated the Bolğar and Bilär areas in the 13th century, migrants resettled Kazan. Kazan became a center of a duchy which was a dependency of the Golden Horde. Two centuries later, in the 1430s, Hordian Tatars (such as Ghiasetdin of Kazan) usurped power from its Bolghar dynasty.

Some Tatars also went to Lithuania, brought by Vytautas the Great.

In 1438, after the destruction of the Golden Horde, Kazan became the capital of the powerful Khanate of Kazan. The city bazaar, Taş Ayaq (Stone Leg)' became the most important trade center in the region, especially for furniture. The citadel and Bolaq channel were reconstructed, giving the city a strong defensive capacity. The Russians managed to occupy the city briefly several times.

Russian Tsardom period[link]

Annunciation Cathedral of Kazan Kremlin, 1561-1562

As a result of the Siege of Kazan (1552) Russia under Ivan the Terrible conquered the city for good and the majority of the population was massacred. During the governorship of Alexander Gorbatyi-Shuisky, most of the khanates's Tatar residents were killed or forcibly Christianized. Mosques and palaces were ruined. The surviving Tatar population was moved to a place 50 kilometers (31 mi) away from the city and this place was forcibly settled by Russian farmers and soldiers. Tatars in the Russian service were settled in the Tatar Bistäse settlement near the city's wall. Later Tatar merchants and handicraft masters also settled there. During this period, Kazan was largely destroyed as a result of several great fires. After one of them in 1579, the icon Our Lady of Kazan was discovered in the city.

In the early 17th century, at the beginning of the Time of Troubles in Russia, the Tsardom of Kazan declared independence with the help of the Russian population, but this independence was suppressed by Kuzma Minin in 1612.^{[citation needed]}

Russian Empire period[link]

In 1708, the Tsardom of Kazan was abolished, and Kazan became the seat of Kazan Governorate. After Peter the Great's visit, the city became a center of shipbuilding for the Caspian fleet. The major Russian poet Gavrila Derzhavin was born in Kazan in 1743, the son of a poor country squire of Tatar ancestry though himself having a thoroughly Russian identity. Kazan was largely destroyed in 1774 as a result of the Pugachev revolt, a revolt by border troops and peasants led by the Don Cossack ataman (captain) Yemelyan Pugachev, but was rebuilt soon afterwards, during the reign of Catherine the Great. Catherine also decreed that mosques could again be built in Kazan, the first being Marjani Mosque. In the beginning of the 19th century Kazan State University and printing press were founded by Alexander I. It became an important center for Oriental Studies in Russia. The Qur'an was first printed in Kazan in 1801. Kazan became an industrial center and peasants migrated there to join its industrial workforce. In 1875, a horse tramway appeared; 1899 saw the installation of a tramway. After the Russian Revolution of 1905, Tatars were allowed to revive Kazan as a Tatar cultural center. The first Tatar theater and the first Tatar newspaper appeared.

Soviet period[link]

In 1917 Kazan became one of the revolution centers. In 1918, Kazan was the capital of the Idel-Ural State, which was suppressed by the Bolshevist government. In the Kazan Operation of August 1918, it was briefly occupied by Czechoslovak Legions. In 1920 (after the October Revolution), Kazan became the center of Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In the 1920s and 1930s, most of the city's mosques and churches were destroyed, as occurred elsewhere in the USSR. During World War II, many industrial plants and factories to the west were relocated in Kazan, making the city a center of the military industry, producing tanks and planes. After the war Kazan consolidated as an industrial and scientific center. In 1979, the city's population reached one million.

Modern period[link]

In the late 1980s and in the 1990s, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Kazan again became the center of Tatar culture, and separatist tendencies intensified. With the return of capitalism Kazan became one the most important centers of the Russian Federation. The city came up from 10th to 6th position in population ranking of Russian cities. In the late 2000s the city earned the right to host both the 2013 Summer Universiade and 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Millennium of Kazan[link]

Since 2000, the city has been undergoing a total renovation. The historical center, including its Kremlin, has been rebuilt. Kazan celebrated its millennium in 2005, after a city-organized historical commission settled on 1005 as the official year of the city's founding.^[10] During the millennium celebrations, one of the largest mosque in Russia, Qolsharif, was dedicated in the Kazan Kremlin, the holiest copy of Our Lady of Kazan was returned to the city, the "Millennium Bridge" was inaugurated that year,^[17] and the Kazan Metro began operation. The government of the Russian Federation released the Medal "In Commemoration of the 1000th Anniversary of Kazan".

Administrative and municipal status[link]

Administratively, it is incorporated as the city of republic significance of Kazan—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.^[1] Municipally, the city of republic significance of Kazan is incorporated as Kazan Urban Okrug.^[3]

City divisions[link]

City districts of Kazan

Kazan is divided into seven districts:

Economy[link]

Kazan is one of the largest industrial and financial centers of Russia, and a leading city of the Volga economic region in construction and accumulated investment.^[18] City's Gross Regional Product had reached 380 billion rubles in 2011.(RUS) Казань побила рекорд по инвестициям

Total banking capital of Kazan banks is third in Russia.^[19] The main industries of the city are: mechanical engineering, chemical, petrochemical, light and food industries. An innovative economy is represented by the largest IT-park in Russia which is one of the largest of its kind amongst Eastern Europe science parks.^[20][21] Kazan ranks 174th (highest in Russia) in Mercer’s Worldwide Quality of Living Survey.^[22]

Transportation[link]

Kazan International Airport[link]

Night aerial view of Kazan

"Prospect Pobedy" metro station

Bridge over Bolaq channel

City bus

Kazan International Airport is located 26 kilometers from the city centre. It is a hub for Tatarstan Airlines and Kazan Air Enterprise and hosts 11 air companies. Airport is connected with city by bus route #97. There is also the Kazan Borisoglebskoye airfield, home to Kazan Aircraft Production Association, a major aircraft factory, famous in the past as "Aircraft Plant 22" ("22nd Zavod"). Adjacent to it lies huge aircraft engines plant ("16th Zavod"). Currently it produces versions of Tupolev 204 and 214 aircraft, rather unsuccessful version of Boeing 757 single-aisle aircraft. In the past an Ilyushin-62, four-engine Russian mainliner, Typolev-160 "Black Jack" supersonic strategic bomber and Tu-22M tactic bomber were also produced here. Both these plants and adjacent workers' housing make a whole city district known as "Aviastroitelny" ("Aircraft Builders").

Railways[link]

Kazan is connected with Moscow, Ulyanovsk, Yoshkar-Ola and Yekaterinburg by railways.

Main railway station "Kazan passazhirsky" is located in the city centre and includes main building (built in 1896), commuter trains terminal, ticket office building and some other technical buildings. Station serves 36 intercity trains and more than 8 million passengers per annum.^[23] The Second terminal in the northern part of city is under reconstruction. Kazan city has also 19 platforms for commuter trains.

Riverside station[link]

Station serves intercity ships and commuter boats. Pneumocushion boats are used in winter time. Daily passenger turnover reaches 6 thousands.

Bus stations[link]

There are two bus stations in Kazan — Central and Southern. Bus routes connect Kazan with all districts of Tatarstan, Samara, Ufa, Tolyatti, Orenburg, Ulyanovsk, Cheboksary, Sterlitamak, Buzuluk, Baki and Aktobe. It is planned to build new stations in the East, West and North districts instead of Central for relieving city centre.

Highways[link]

There are federal highway connections to Moscow and Ufa (E-22), Orenburg (R-239), Ul'yanovsk (R-241) and Igra (R-242). There are also R-175 federal highway and «Northern Europe — Western China» (in construction) route near the city.

There are five bridges across the Kazanka (Qazansu) river in the city, and one bridge connecting Kazan with the opposite bank of the Volga.

Public transit[link]

• A single-line Kazan Metro, the north-southeast Central Line, opened on 27 August 2005. The Kazan Metro has seven stations, but there are plans to extend the line in both directions and is due to cross the Kazanka river with the stations "Dekabristov", "Moskovskaya", "Aviastroitel`naya" in 2012. Single trip costs 13-15 rub.
• The Kazan tram system was founded in 1899. 8 routes use 187 km (116.20 mi) of lines and 197 tramcars.^[24] Single trip costs 10-12 rub. Rolling stock: LM-99, 71-608, 71-605.
• The Kazan trolleybus (electric bus) system was founded in 1948. 355 km (220.59 mi) of lines are used for 14 routes.^[25] Single trip costs 13-15 rub. Vehicles: ZIU-682, Trolza-5275-05 "Optima", VMZ-5298.01-50 "Avangard".
• The Kazan bus system was totally renovated in 2007. 91 routes have an aggregate length of 1981 km. All 1444 buses are colored red. Single trip costs 16-18 rub. Unlike in most Western cities, public bus routes are not municipal, operated by private companies and therefore are very efficient. Most of buses are imported, produced by "Golden Dragon", "Higer", "NefAZ", "MAZ", "Yutong", "Hyundai", "Bogdan"

Demographics[link]

Population[link]

Population of Kazan since 1800

Population: 1,143,600 (2010 Census preliminary results);^[6] 1,105,289 (2002 Census);^[7] 1,094,378 (1989 Census).^[26] Kazan metropolitan area's population is 1.57 mln.

Ethnicity and religion[link]

The Kul Sharif Mosque in Kazan

All Religions Temple. A building and cultural center built by the local artist Ildar Khanov

Roman Catholic church in Kazan

The city's population consists mostly of ethnic Russians (48.8%) and Tatars (47.5%). The population of Kazan includes Chuvash, Ukrainians, Azeri, and Jews.^[27] Predominant faiths of Kazan city are Sunni Islam and Eastern Orthodoxy with Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, Krishnaism, and the Bahá'í Faith also counted among the faithful of Kazan.

Languages[link]

Tatar and Russian languages are widely spoken in the city. Russian is understood by everyone except for some older Tatars. Tatar is widely spoken mainly by Tatars.

Climate[link]

Kazan has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb) with long cold winters and warm, often hot dry summers. The warmest month is July with daily mean temperature near +20 °C (68 °F), coldest - January −12 °C (10 °F).

Central Kazan[link]

Kremlin[link]

Nurulla Mosque

Belltower of Epiphany Church

The city has a citadel (Russian: кремль, tr. kreml', or sometimes Tatar: kirman), which was declared a World Heritage Site in 2000. Major monuments in the kremlin are the 5-domed 6-columned Annunciation Cathedral (1561–62) and the mysterious leaning Soyembika Tower, named after the last queen of Kazan and regarded as the city's most conspicuous landmark.

Also of interest are the towers and walls, erected in the 16th and 17th centuries but later reconstructed; the Qol-Şarif mosque, which is already rebuilt inside the citadel; remains of the Saviour Monastery (its splendid 16th-century cathedral having been demolished by the Bolsheviks) with the Spasskaya Tower; and the Governor's House (1843–53), designed by Konstantin Thon, now the Palace of the President of Tatarstan.

Next door, the ornate baroque Sts-Peter-and-Paul's Cathedral on Qawi Nacmi Street and Marcani mosque on Qayum Nasiri Street date back to the 18th century.

Bistä, or Posad[link]

Central Kazan is divided into two districts by the Bolaq canal and Lake Qaban. The first district (Qazan Bistäse or Kazanskiy Posad), historically Russian, is situated on the hill, the second (İske Tatar Bistäse or Staro-Tatarskaya Sloboda), historically Tatar, is situated between the Bolaq and the Volga. Mosques, such as Nurullah, Soltan, Bornay, Apanay, Äcem, Märcani, İske Taş, Zäñgär are in the Tatar district. Churches, such as Blagoveschenskaya, Varvarinskaya, Nikol'skaya, Tikhvinskaya, are mostly in the Russian part of the city. The main city-centre streets are Bauman, Kremlyovskaya, Dzerzhinsky, Tuqay, Puşkin, Butlerov, Gorkiy, Karl Marx and Märcani.

An old legend says that in 1552, before the Russian invasion, wealthy Tatars (baylar) hid gold and silver in Lake Qaban.

Wooden Kazan[link]

In the beginning of 1990s most of Central Kazan was covered by wooden buildings, usually consisting of two floors. There was a historical environment of Kazan citizens, but not the best place to live in. During the Republican program "The liquidation of ramshackle apartments" most of them (unlike other Russian cities), especially in Central Kazan, where the land is not cheap, were destroyed and their population was moved to new areas at the suburb of the city (Azino, Azino-2, Quartal 39). Nearly 100,000 citizens resettled by this programme.

Other major buildings[link]

Another significant building in central Kazan is the former "Smolentzev and Shmelev" tea house and hotel, now the Shalyapin Palace Hotel. It is located at 7/80 Universitetskaya Street, at the corner of Universitetskaya and Bauman. A major landmark of late-19th and early-20th century commercial architecture, it consists of two portions. The original portion, built for a merchant named Usmanov in the 1860s, was bought by the inter-related families of Efim Smolentzev and Pavel and Nikolai Shmelev in 1899.^[29] They operated a store selling, among other things, tea. In 1910, the Smolentevs and Shmelevs constructed another portion, designed by architect Vasili Trifonov, and operated a hotel there.^[30] After the Russian Revolution, the building eventually became the Hotel Soviet and after 2000 it was heavily renovated to reopen as the Shalyapin Palace Hotel.

Cityscape[link]

A panoramic view of Kazan Kremlin, Vernicle temple and Kazanka river right bank

Kazanka right bank

Both banks of Kazanka

Education and science[link]

Primary and secondary education[link]

Primary and secondary education system of Kazan includes:

• 282 nurseries, most of which are municipal
• 178 schools, 2 of which are private
• 28 vocational technical schools
• 15 colleges
• 10 special colleges

There are also 49 music schools, 10 fine-arts schools and 43 sports schools.

Higher education[link]

Kazan Federal University

Main building of Tatarstan Academy of Sciences

There are 44 institutes of higher education in Kazan, including 19 branches of universities from other cities. More than 140,000 students are educated in the city. Kazan Federal University (founded in 1804) is third oldest university in Russia after Saint Petersburg State University (1724) and Moscow State University (1755). In 2009 KFU got Federal status as main university of Volga Region. Some other prominent universities are:

• Kazan State Technical University - founded in 1932. In 2009 it got status of National university;
• Kazan State Medical University - founded in 1814 as a department within Kazan State University;
• Kazan State Technological University - founded in 1919 on the base of pre-existing vocational school;
• Kazan State Conservatory - founded in 1945;

Science[link]

Kazan is a major scientific centre in Russia. Kazan formed a big number of scientific areas and schools (mathematical, chemical, medical, linguistic, geological, geobotanical, etc.). It is subject of special pride: the creation of non-Euclidean geometry (Nikolai Lobachevsky), the discovery of the chemical element ruthenium (Claus), the theory about the structure of organic compounds (Aleksandr Butlerov), the discovery of the electron paramagnetic resonance (Yevgeny Zavoisky) and acoustic paramagnetic resonance (Altshuler) and many others. City hosts:

• Kazan Science Centre of Russian Academy of Sciences, since 1945. It includes 5 academical institutions.
• Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, since 1991. It includes 7 local departments with 13 academical institutions (also, 21 organisations are under the guidance of TAS) and one branch in Ulyanovsk.^[31]

Government and administration[link]

Kazan town hall (before 1917 - the Hall of Nobility)

Cabinet of Ministers

Mayor[link]

Mayor is the head of the city. İlsur Metşin has been the mayor of Kazan since November 17, 2005.

City Duma[link]

Kazan City Duma is a representative body of the city, elected every four years.

Executive committee[link]

Executive committee is a municipal body of the executive organs. Committee's head is Alexey Pesoshin.

Government of the Republic of Tatarstan[link]

Kazan hosts Tatarstan President's residence and administration (in Kremlin), Tatarstan's Cabinet of Ministers and Council of State (on Freedom square).

Sports[link]

"Basket-hall"

Men's teams:

• Football (Russian Premier League) - FC Rubin Kazan (2-time champion)
• Basketball (Russian Basketball Super League) - UNICS Kazan (2-time Cup holder; 2004 FIBA Europe League winner; 2011 Eurocup winner)
• Ice hockey (KHL) - Ak Bars Kazan (2-time KHL champions; 4-time champion; 2007 IIHF European Champions Cup & 2008 IIHF Continental Cup winner)
• Volleyball (Russian Superleague) - VC Zenit Kazan (3-time champion; 2008 CEV Champions League winner)
• Rugby (Russian League) - Strela (6-time champion)
• Water polo (Higher League) - Sintez (2007 champion; 2005 Cup holder; 2007 LEN Cup winner)
• Bandy (Russian Bandy League) - Dynamo^[32] (2009 Russian Cup holder,^[33] 2009 FIB Champions Cup winner, 2010 Bandy World Cup winner, 2011 Russian Bandy League winner)
• Field hockey (Russian League) - Dinamo (5-time champion)
• Team handball - KAI-Zilant (dissolved in 2008);
• Futsal - Privolzhanin (dissolved in 2004);

Notable athletes[link]

• Alexander Burmistrov, hockey player
• Viktor Kolotov, association football player
• Ruslan Nigmatullin, association football player
• Denis Arkhipov, hockey player
• Svetlana Demina, sport shooter

Infrastructure[link]

• Central stadium - Olympic stadium, capacity 30,133. Home ground for FC «Rubin». Also, new football arena with capacity 45,000 is under construction and has to be ready in 2012-2013.
• TatNeft Arena - indoor sporting arena, capacity 10,000. Home to HSC «Aq Bars»
• Basket-Hall - indoor sporting arena, capacity 7,000 (large hall) and 1,500 (small hall). Home to BC «UNICS»
• «Rubin» stadium, capacity 10,000. Home to FC «Rubin-2»
• Volleyball center, capacity 4,600. Home to VC «Zenit» and WVC «Dynamo-Kazan»
• Field Hockey centre, capacity 2,700.
• «Raketa» and «Trudovye Rezervy» ice stadiums

Important events[link]

• Kazan is the host city for the 2013 Summer Universiade, 2015 World Aquatics Championships, 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and 2018 FIFA World Cup.
• 2011 European Weightlifting Championships
• 2005 and 2011 Bandy World Championships
• 2010 finswimming European championship
• 2008 ice hockey juniors world championship
• 2008 boxing students world championship
• 2007 field hockey Europe championship

International relations[link]

Branch offices of embassies[link]

• Branch Office of the Embassy of Belarus^[34]

Consulates[link]

Two consulates general are found in Kazan.^[35]

• Consulate-General of Iran
• Consulate-General of Turkey

Visa centers[link]

• Italian Visa Center in Kazan.^[36]
• Joint Visa Application Center of European Union for:
  •  Bulgaria
  •  Czech Republic
  •  Denmark
  •  Finland^[37]
  •  Greece
  •  Iceland
  •  Malta
  •  Netherlands
  •  Spain

Twin towns and sister cities[link]

Kazan is twinned with^[38]:

Kazan has also partner relations with the following cities and regions:

International organizations membership[link]

• Organization of World Heritage Cities
• United Cities and Local Governments
• Twin Cities International Association
• Historic Cities International Association
• General Conference of Mayors for Peace

Kazan has an Alliance française center.

Kazan has an American Corner.^[39]

References[link]

Notes[link]