Temple of All Religions

Ildar Khanov, a Kazan artist and healer, began building this in 1992 on his own plot and kept adding to it until his death in 2013 - a rambling structure that piles up an Orthodox dome, a mosque minaret, a synagogue element, a pagoda, a Chinese roof and other references in different colours on one site. It is not a place of worship and never was: there are no services, no congregation and no clergy, and Khanov described it as a monument to the world's religions and to the idea that they share a root, along with a cultural centre and space for his own work. Building has continued since his death under his family, with interior halls given to different traditions and a good deal of ornament still going up. The result is genuinely odd and photographs well from the road, and it sits next to a railway line on the western outskirts, which does nothing for the setting.

What you actually see

• The stacked forms - dome, minaret, pagoda and spire assembled on one building.
• The single builder - a private project begun in 1992 by one artist.
• The unfinished interior - halls dedicated to different traditions, still under work.
• The absence of worship - no services, no congregation, despite the name.

When to go

May to September. One hour. It is a short train ride from the centre.

Honest expectations

Not a religious site - it is one man's art project and has been criticised on those grounds by several faith communities. Parts are unfinished or closed. Interior access is ticketed and limited. A fire in 2017 damaged sections. It sits by a railway on an unremarkable outskirt.

Nearby

Sviyazhsk is further west; central Kazan is twenty minutes by train.