Kazan, Tatarstan, Russian Federation
My first full day in Russia and Kazan I found a few Mosques on the tourist map close to my hotel. I had a very long day two day transit from Toronto to get here and tonight I had a sleeper train for my next onward leg towards Moscow. Luckily I was able to get a few hours sleep.
I was staying at the Ibis Kazan hotel as they had 24 hour airport pickup for my late flight arrival. In the area just south of the hotel and railway station were several Mosques.
First was the Nurulla Mosque from the 1800s. These are probably not Mosques tourists would come to but they did have signage outside explaining the history in multiple languages including English. Many of the buildings around had Islamic design but were not all Mosques.
They were mostly on the same street taking Moscovskaya Street towards Mardjani St. There was a touristic area with restaurants which must be more busy in tourist season.
I couldnt figure how to get into the Al-Mardzhani Mosque so continued on to the Apanayevskaya Mosque. This was much more Central European in design both from the outside and interior.
Rather than Islamic calligraphy it had detailed plaster designs in a peaked roof. The room was surrounded by ceramic tiles again more European than Islamic in design.
The rear parallel street was a tourist street with signage and had access back into the Al-Mardzhani Mosque I'd just missed. This Mosque dated from the 1760s and surprisingly was built at the instruction of Catherine the Great after she had visited local Tatars.
This was a very unusual complex unlike a traditional Mosque connecting several buildings. I was lost inside trying to find the prayer hall and stumbled across offices, wedding and other conference halls.
I had to go back to the entrance and ask how to get into the prayer hall as the layout was very confusing. Again it was not like traditional Mosques.
Rather than one big prayer hall it was smaller rooms connected by doorways. Also it had the interesting ceiling art and ceramic tile designs.
There were several more Mosques on the map if I had more time, and even more Mosques that were not even on the map. However I only had today to get to the Kazan Kremlin and explore, the main highlight of the city.
This was an interesting area not that well known to tourists as I'd never seen or heard of it prior to my trip, nor did I see hardly any tourists here. You were free to wander in and out of the Mosques, as well they did the Azaan prayer call something completely unexpected to hear in a Russian Orthodox country.
Here is also my youtube vlog exploring https://youtu.be/5lGuCswwTWw
2025-05-23