The Kazan Kremlin

Kazan's kremlin makes its point on the skyline: inside the white sixteenth-century walls, the Kul Sharif mosque's turquoise-capped minarets rise beside the Annunciation cathedral's golden onions - Islam and Orthodoxy sharing one fortress hill above the Volga, the built argument for Tatarstan's twin identity that UNESCO inscribed in 2000. The leaning Soyembika tower adds its legend and seven-degree tilt, museums fill the old cadet quarters, and the walls walk visitors out to river panoramas. Below, Kazan's Bauman street and Tatar old town extend the day into chak-chak pastry and two alphabets of signage.

History

The kremlin was built at the order of Ivan the Terrible on the remains of the castle of the Kazan khans, and the Pskov architects Postnik Yakovlev and Ivan Shirjay, called Barma, were invited to rebuild it in stone. Its oldest building is the Annunciation Cathedral of 1554-1562, the only 16th-century Russian church with six piers and five apses, built of local pale sandstone; the white walls and towers date from the 16th and 17th centuries, the leaning Söyembikä Tower probably from the reign of Peter the Great, and the Governor's House of 1843-1853 by Konstantin Thon, now the Palace of the President of Tatarstan, is believed to stand on the site of the khans' palace. In Soviet times the cathedral's five-tier bell tower was pulled down in 1930 and the churches of the Spassky Monastery were wrecked under Stalin; the kremlin became a World Heritage Site in 2000, and on 24 June 2005 the Kul Sharif Mosque, rebuilt where the khanate's main mosque probably stood before 1552, opened before about 17,000 people (Wikipedia, Kazan Kremlin).

Highlights

• Kul Sharif mosque - the turquoise-and-white centrepiece.
• The Annunciation cathedral - golden domes of the 1560s.
• The Soyembika tower - the leaning legend of the khanate's queen.
• The wall panoramas - the Volga and the twin-faith skyline.

When to go

May to September for river-breeze strolling and evening illuminations; winter wraps the ensemble in operatic snow. Friday prayers and Orthodox feasts both animate the hill - visit respectfully at either.

Before you go

The kremlin is polished and busy - mornings beat the tour flow; mosque and cathedral etiquette (dress, quiet, photo rules) applies in full.

Nearby

Bauman street, the Tatar old settlement and the Volga embankments.

Key facts