Kazan.

History

The official founding date is 1005, based on finds such as early-10th-century Czech coins unearthed in the kremlin. In 1438 Ulugh Muhammad made Kazan the capital of a khanate, and in 1552 Ivan the Terrible took the city after a six-month siege. Kazan was badly damaged during Pugachev's Rebellion in 1774 and rebuilt under Catherine the Great. Its university, the third oldest in Russia, opened in 1804, and in 1920 the city became the capital of the Tatar ASSR.

Culture & traditions

The Kazan Kremlin has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. Its most striking landmark is the Söyembikä Tower, named after Kazan's last queen; nearby stand the five-domed Annunciation Cathedral of 1561–1562 and the Kul Sharif Mosque, opened for the city's millennium in 2005. Kazan University is especially proud of Nikolai Lobachevsky's non-Euclidean geometry. Bauman Street is one of the main streets of the centre, and the Pyramid is among its best-known concert venues.

Sport

Kazan is a city that lives for sport, home to Rubin (football), Ak Bars (ice hockey), UNICS (basketball) and Zenit-Kazan (volleyball). It hosted the 2013 Summer Universiade, the 2015 World Aquatics Championships, the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Rubin's home ground is the Kazan Arena, with about 45,000 seats.

Food & drink

Kazan is the place to try Tatar cooking. Chak-chak is a mound of honey-soaked dough balls served at weddings; echpochmak is a triangular pastry filled with meat, onion and potato; gubadia is a tall layered pie with rice, dried fruit and qort (dried curd), a festive Kazan town dish. Look out too for belesh, a meat-and-grain pie baked in a crock, and kystybyi, a flatbread folded over millet or mashed potato.

Practical information

Kazan International Airport is 26 km from the centre. The city has a single metro line, opened on 27 August 2005. Kazan is on Moscow time. The climate is humid continental, averaging about −10 °C in January and +20 °C in July; May to September is the best time to visit.

What to see

• Kazan Kremlin — a UNESCO World Heritage Site above the Volga and Kazanka
• Kul Sharif Mosque — opened for Kazan's millennium in 2005
• Söyembikä Tower — the kremlin's most conspicuous landmark
• Annunciation Cathedral — a five-domed 16th-century cathedral
• Bauman Street — one of the main streets of the centre
• Kazan University — the third oldest university in Russia

A ready-made itinerary

Kazan: a day in the Kremlin ↗