Kazan is a city that has become increasingly popular among the Russian tourists in recent years. To take a good tour of all its attractions, a weekend tour is not enough. However, EcoTourism EXPERT found out how travelers can organize an excursion if they have just a few hours to go sightseeing in the capital of Tatarstan.
It is really possible! Moreover, Kazan is a city where people come not only to taste the famous chak-chak, a sweet delicacy that has become a real brand of the republic. Today, the million-plus city is home to a large number of various enterprises; the KazanExpo Exhibition Hall hosts numerous exhibitions, and famous Innopolis, the youngest city in Russia that is under ten years old, is a cluster of innovations and startups.
In a word, there are a lot of business travelers visiting the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan. And ‘three hours to go sightseeing in Kazan’ is just for them.
Along Bauman Street
The words that immediately pop into any traveler’s head when talking about Kazan are ‘Kul Sharif’ and ‘chak-chak’. While the famous Kul Sharif Mosque is the final point of our short excursion, the main gastronomic brand of Tatarstan is seen at every step if you begin your acquaintance with the city from Bauman Street, the main pedestrian street of the capital of the republic. If you do not stay at the hotel in the center of the city, you can get to the beginning of the street by metro to the Tukaya Square station.
By the way, the Kazan metro is the youngest not only in Russia, it was launched in 2005, after the collapse of the USSR. Today, it consists of 1 metro tunnel with 11 stations, but in the future, another one will be built. You can pay for your travel using a smart-token worth 36 rubles that can become a wonderful souvenir if you take one more. It is interesting that the purchase of tokens as a souvenir is also recognized by the Kazan subway management; they had to release a new batch of tokens in September.
Having reached the Tukay Square, tourists can begin their journey into the city history. Moreover, Bauman Street got its name quite recently, in 1930. And before that, it was called the Nogai Road (the Nogai Horde living between the Volga and Ural rivers in the 14th-15th centuries began their way there), and as Prolomnaya (Break Through) Street, and then Bolshaya Prolomnaya. The street received this name after assaulting Kazan by tsar Ivan the Terrible when explosions broke through the walls of the Kazan Kremlin. Quite a long period (by historical standards), the street was called Bolshaya Bogoyavlenskaya in honor of the Epiphany Cathedral built there.
I would like to mention one more thing: after the collapse of the USSR, the city authorities wanted to rename Bauman Street and call it Chaliapin Street as the famous singer was a native of Kazan, but they did not do this. Nevertheless, the Kazan people paid tribute to the memory of their fellow countryman: a few-minute walk along the stone-block pavement, there is a monument to the renown opera singer, and behind it, there is the building of the fashionable Chaliapin hotel. The Epiphany Cathedral where Chaliapin sang in the church choir is another fifty meters away. Today, tourists can climb to the temple’s viewing platform where they can admire the panoramic view of the historical center of the city from a height of 74 meters and for 100 rubles only.
Sweet gold and cats
But we keep on going and рass the building of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, a majestic building in the neoclassical style with Art Nouveau elements. In 1917-1918, part of the Russia’s gold reserves was stored there; they were taken out of the city but later on, 13 wagons (346 tons) of gold were returned to Kazan on May 3, 1920.
Like most tourists, any person who comes to Kazan is more interested in another, sweet ‘attraction’ of Kazan - the famous delicious chak-chak. Tourists can, of course, buy these cookies made from deep-fried pieces of dough mixed with honey syrup not only in the capital of Tatarstan. But only here they are sold in any quantities, in any packaging and in stores with a variety of names. For example, there is the House of Chak-Chak and the Castle of Sweets, numerous laconic Chak-Chak, and a place where sweet cookies are as popular as another gastronomic brand - the triangular pie echpochmak.
And chak-chak compete with another symbol of the city - the stately and laid-back Kazan Cat! The Kazan Cat is not only a monument decorating the streets, but a lot of Kazan Cats also ‘watch’ the tourists from every store window. They are made in the form of cozy pillows, magnetic figures, figurines and other souvenirs. The most famous popular print image of the Kazan Cat has the following phrase “Kazan cat, Astrakhan mind, Siberian wits” and the same words are on the monument.
The story with cats is quite well known: when Empress Catherine II visited Kazan (a copy of the carriage in which she entered Kazan is also located on Bauman Street), she was surprised by the absence of mice and took Kazan mousecatchers to the capital. The mousers really successfully killed the mice in the Winter Palace, and their descendants, they say, now serve at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
Mosque and Syuyumbike
Bauman Street is 1,885 meters long. And at the end of the street, the tourists enjoy a view of the white stone Kazan Kremlin with the architectural elements resembling the Pskov fortress and even the Moscow Kremlin. Moreover, the entrance to the monument that received the status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2020 is through the gates of the Spasskaya Tower that resembles the one in Moscow although it is white, and it has even the clock, too.
There are eight museums on the area of the Kremlin (one of them houses the original carriage on which Catherine II entered the city), but in order to get acquainted with their exhibitions, tourists need to have at least one day. Therefore, the main attention should be paid to two buildings.
While most people turn off the main pedestrian street of the Kremlin and go towards the Kul Sharif Mosque, it is better to get first to the second iconic building - the Syuyumbike Tower. Today, the deviation of the tower spire from the vertical is 2 meters and therefore, it is called ‘falling’. In the architectural appearance of the Syuyumbike Tower, travelers can see not only Islamic motifs (sharp tent reminding the architecture of minarets), but also Orthodox ones (the lower stepped part reminding the Borovitskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin). And those who often visit the Kazansky Station in Moscow can recognize the building of this railway gate in Moscow in the silhouette of the Syuyumbike Tower.
Next to the Syuyumbike Tower, there is the Annunciation Cathedral, an amazing example of the Pskov architecture style, built in the mid-16th century on the site of a small wooden church. According to one legend, Ivan the Terrible personally installed a cross in the place where the Holy table should have been located. However, the building is unremarkable in anything special. Perhaps, it is interesting that the Pskov churches have never had five domes, which could be explained by the fact that the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin was an example.
Well, now tourists can turn back and, leaving the pedestrian street to the right, go to one of the most beautiful symbols of Kazan - the Kul Sharif Mosque opened in 2005 and made on the site of a historical mosque that was destroyed during the assaulting of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible. Anyone can get there today, regardless of gender, nationality or confession. A lot has already been written about the Kul Sharif Mosque, tourists who have only three hours to explore Kazan should know that climbing to the gallery where they can look at the prayer hall is free. But it is better not to go at a time when there are tourist groups in the Kul Sharif Mosque, since the gallery is very small and the stairs are narrow, so it can take long to be in the line to enter the gallery.
Also, if you want to surprise your friends with your knowledge of details, remember that the fire station building located next to the Kul Sharif Mosque and made in ordinary style, is called a ‘tyubeteyka’ (embroidered skullcap worn in Central Asia) in Kazan.
