Peter and Paul Cathedral Kazan

The merchant Ivan Mikhlyaev built this in 1723 to 1726 after Peter the Great stayed at his house during a visit to Kazan, and the result is one of the most ornamented churches in the Volga region - a tall two-storey building with a separate bell tower, its surfaces covered in moulded relief: vines, flowers, shells, fruit, picked out in blue, green, red and gold against white. The style is usually called Russian or Naryshkin baroque, and the decoration is applied with a density that reads as provincial confidence rather than metropolitan restraint. The first attempt collapsed during construction and it had to be rebuilt. Inside is a carved gilded iconostasis of the eighteenth century. The church was closed in the 1930s and used as a planetarium among other things; it returned to use in 1989. It stands on a slope, so the bell tower is visible from much of the lower town.

What you actually see

• The relief ornament - moulded vines, flowers and shells in colour across the whole facade.
• The 1726 date - a merchant's church built after Peter the Great stayed in his house.
• The bell tower - a separate tower visible across the lower town.
• The iconostasis - carved and gilded, eighteenth century, inside.

When to go

All year; the colours read best in low sun. One hour. It is on the walk between Bauman street and the kremlin.

Honest expectations

A working church - services close it to visitors and dress rules apply. Photography inside is restricted. The interior is plainer than the outside leads you to expect. The building is hemmed in by later construction, so full views are hard to find.

Nearby

Kazan kremlin is a short walk north; Bauman street runs below.