Kazan Kremlin & Qolşärif Mosque

The Kazan Kremlin is the main historic fortress of Kazan, a city in Russia on the Volga River and the capital of the republic of Tatarstan. It stands on a hill and holds old towers, white walls, churches and a mosque side by side.

Ivan the Terrible ordered it built in stone on the ruins of the castle of the Kazan khans after he conquered the city in 1552. UNESCO named it a World Heritage Site in 2000. It is famous because Orthodox Christian and Islamic buildings stand together in one walled place. Today the kremlin is a World Heritage Site and the best-known sight of Kazan, where a thousand years of the Volga region's past meet.

Which buildings stand inside?

The oldest building is the Annunciation Cathedral, built between 1554 and 1562 from pale local sandstone. The Spasskaya Tower guards the southern entrance. The best-known tower is the Söyembikä Tower, which leans, and a legend ties it to the last queen of the Kazan Khanate. The Governor's House, built in the 1840s and 1850s, is now the palace of the president of Tatarstan. Many churches here were destroyed in the Soviet years, and some towers and walls were later renovated.

The blue-roofed mosque

The Qolşärif Mosque was rebuilt inside the fortress and finished in 2005. It recalls a mosque that was destroyed in 1552 when the Kazan Khanate fell. Its four slender minarets and sky-blue domes make it one of the most photographed sights in the city. Placing a large mosque and an old cathedral inside the same walls shows how Kazan has mixed Tatar and Russian traditions for centuries.

On the globe

The model shows the hilltop fortress with the blue-roofed Qolşärif Mosque, the Annunciation Cathedral and the leaning Söyembikä Tower. Look for the four minarets and the one tilted tower.