“In general the meaning of Kazan is great: it’s a meeting point of two worlds. That’s why Kazan has two origins: western and eastern ones and you can meet them at each crossroad: here, because of continuous interaction, they were compressed, became good friends, and turned into something very original in its nature”
Alexander Herzen, Russian publicist,
writer, philosopher

Kazan is the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, third capital of Russia, it’s one of the largest economic, scientific and cultural centres in the country. The city celebrated its 1,000th anniversary in 2005. About 1,2 mln people – representatives of over 100 nationalities – live in Kazan in the atmosphere of cultural, religious and linguistic diversity.

The Kazan Kremlin, a unique complex of archeological, historical and architectural monuments enrolled into the UNESCO World Heritage list, is the main tourist attraction of Kazan. It is open for visits and tours on a daily basis. Tourists visiting the territory of the architectural conservation area will see such places of interest as the ‘falling’ Syuyumbike Tower, Savior Tower, Annunciation Cathedral and Kul-Sharif, one of the largest mosques in the world.

There are all the reasons to call the thousand-year-old Kazan a ‘young’ city, as it’s the largest student city of Russia. There are nearly 200,000 students from 67 countries studying in Kazan, Russia’s top higher education institutions are concentrated here, among them Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Tupolev Kazan National Research Technical University and Kazan National Research Technological University. Students of Kazan are always among winners of national and international contests and holders of state scholarships by international and national funds, they also excel in sports. And it became one of the strongest ideas around which the Kazan 2013 bid campaign was built.

Kazan has traditionally been one of top science cities in Russia. It’s in Kazan University where Nikolay Lobachevsky developed the non-Euclidean geometry, Alexander Butlerov invented the theory of chemical structure for organic compounds, Karl Claus discovered the chemical element Ruthenium, Yevgeny Zavoisky opened the Electronic Paramagnetic Resonance and Semyon Altshuler made a theoretical prediction of the Acoustic Paramagnetic Resonance. The 19th century saw the establishment of the Department of Oriental Studies in Kazan to whose development Professor Alexander Kasem-bek, a famous orientalist, historian and philologist, greatly contributed. Studies made by Professor Baudouin de Courtenay, an outstanding linguist and Slavist, served as a foundation for the Kazan School of Linguistics in the mid-1870s.

Various renowned scientists have worked in Kazan’s universities and scientific research centres at different times: physicians Karl Fuks and Nikolay Vinogradov; biochemist Vladimir Engelgardt; surgeons Alexander V. Vishnevsky and Alexander A. Vishnevsky; neurologist Leonid Omorokov; anatomists Peter Lesgaft and Evmeny Aristov; physiologists Nikolay Kovalevsky and Nikolay Mislavsky; astronomers Mikhail Lyapunov, Marian Kovalsky, Dmitry Dubyago, Alexander Dubyago; Russian historians Afanasy Schapov and Nikolay Likhachev; legal theorist Alexander Chebyshev-Dmitriev; orientalists Khristian Fren and Ilya Berezin; linguists Vasily Bogoroditsky, Nikolay Krushevsky and many others. Read more

• Gallery
• Places to visit

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Kazan Kremlin

The Kazan Kremlin – the ‘heart of Kazan’ – is located on the hill over the Kazanka River. In the first half of the 16th century the Kazan Kremlin was a white-stone fortress, before that the outpost had been defended by massive oak walls. More

Old Tatar Settlement

The Old Tatar Settlement is the historical centre of Kazan. Thanks to its location on the right bank of the Low Kaban Lake, the settlement offers an unforgettable panoramic view. The history of the Old Tatar Settlement began shortly after Kazan fell to the army of Ivan the Terrible. Outstanding representatives of the Tatar people – intelligentsia, religious leaders, merchants and manufacturers – resided in the settlement in the 18th century. Yunusov Square is the heart of the Old Tatar Settlement. More

Bauman Street

Bauman Street is the pedestrian street in the heart of Kazan; at different times it was named ‘Nogayskaya Road’, ‘Prolomnaya Street’, ‘Bolshaya Prolomnaya’. But Bauman Street was not always a pedestrian street, there were trams, trolleys and buses running along it. Nowadays both ends of the street are connected with the underground stations Ploschad Tukaya (‘Tukay Square’) and Kremlevskaya. More