!!!Kazan, Summer Universiade 2013, Russia
Photo by Stanislav Sedov and Dmitry Moiseenko,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\
6 July 2013
with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]
Kazan is one of the oldest cities of Russia: in 2005 the city celebrated
one thousand years since its foundation. Kazan is officially known as
"the third capital of Russia": its population is over one million
people, and the same number of tourists visit it every year to see Kazan
landmarks.
On May 31, 2013 Kazan was announced in Brussels as the winner host city
for the 2013 Summer Universiade.
The 27th World Summer Universiade 2013 in Kazan will be the first
Universiade and — what's more — the first multi-sport event in the
history of modern Russia. Universiade in Kazan will be held from July 6
to July 17, 2013. In the last five years the city has undergone a real
construction boom: 30 sports facilities were built, including the
football stadium Kazan-Arena, the Palace of Water Sports, the Palace of
Martial Arts Ak Bars, and other wonderful arenas.
[{Image src='01_Kazan Kremlin.jpg' caption='Kazan Kremlin' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='621'}]
Today, just like many centuries before, Kazan plays a vital role in the
life of the Russian Federation.
The city was founded in the beginning of the 10th century as a fortified
stronghold of the Volga Bulgar people, but no one knows exactly where
the city's name originates from. The most popular legend about the city
name origin is the word "kazan", which is the Tatar for "kettle". They
say that a sorcerer advised Bulgarians to live "where without any fire a
kettle dug into the ground would boil." He who seeks shall find: there
was a time when a kettle did boil, and then a new settlement was founded
here.
This is not the only version about the kettle: they say that a servant
of the last Bulgarian Khan, while fleeing the persecution by Mongols,
dropped a golden "kazan" into some river. After this incident both the
river and the city on its bank were named Kazan. A kettle, besides its
direct purpose, was considered by ancient nomadic tribes as a symbol of
power, so it makes perfect sense that a city was founded here.
There are other legends about the origin of the city name: one of them
is connected with the natural world ("kaen" is the Tartar for "birch"
and "kaz" is "goose"), and the other one has something to do with a
certain Prince Hassan, the landscape ("kazanlak" is translated as
"kettle"), and so on. There are more than a dozen other versions out
there. But is it really important?
Kazan is one of the most famous cities of Russia. Its history is linked
with the Golden Horde, Khanate, Ivan the Terrible and the revolutions of
the early 20th century. The main Kazan landmark is the Kazan Kremlin, an
outstanding architectural and sacred monument, listed as World Heritage
by UNESCO.
[{Image src='02_The Kul Sharif Mosque.jpg' caption='The Kul Sharif Mosque' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='621'}]
The day the Bulgars built their fortress is the day Kazan was founded.
Of course, those ancient walls are long gone by now: in past thousand
years the fortress was destroyed and rebuilt many times.
The Kazan Kremlin is located the high terrace of the left bank of Volga
river and the left bank of Kazanka river. Its territory has a shape of
an irregular polygon which resembles Kremlin hill contours. This famous
landmark which can be found on every Kazan photo has a total area of 150
000 square meters and a circle of 1800 meters.
This is how a foreign ambassador described his visit to Kazan during
one of the greatest periods of the city's history: "The city has many
churches with so many large bells that you can't sleep on the eve of the
holiday. All houses are built from wood, but there is a big fortified
fortress with stone walls. A large number of warriors hold positions
there at night like in Spain, Italy and Flanders."
Not all Kremlin buildings have survived to this day. Thus, Eastern
Tower and Dmitrievskaya Tower were dismantled after the Pugachev
assault, and only carcass remains of Polyhedral Tower built by Pskov
architects. However, the Kazan Kremlin is a solid and well-restored
monument which combines Russian and Tatar traditions.
[{Image src='03_The Kul Sharif Mosque at night.jpg' caption='The Kul Sharif Mosque at night' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='621'}]
Within its walls are the Annunciation Cathedral, the Transfiguration
Monastery, other orthodox buildings, and the Qol-Särif mosque, a main
mosque of Tatarstan. It was destroyed in the 16th century when Kazan was
invaded by the troops of Ivan the Terrible, and restored only on the
1000th anniversary of the city. You can also visit the Islam Museum and
other interesting museums. The Kazan Kremlin also features the
Governor's House designed by the architect Konstantin Thon, creator of
the Temple of Christ the Savior and the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow.
Now it serves as the Palace of the President of Tatarstan.
Among other Kazan landmarks there are restored Gostiniy Dvor,
Chernoyarovsky Passage, town hall, numerous temples and mosques. There
are also new, but already legendary monuments, such as Kazan State
Circus which was built in 1965-1967. The circus building looks like
giant UFO that landed on the ground, and it makes you wonder if the team
that build the circus, "Tatgrazhdanproekt", was actually inspired by the
first manned flight into space.
And then there is the Palace Square, a new and elegant architectural
complex with alleys and buildings in neoclassical style. Gorgeous city
park and Millenium bridge, built on the anniversary of the ancient city,
will impress you with its magnitude, as well as light and music
fountains installed on the Kamala Theatre square. There is also the
Lovers Arch and the Temple of All Religions, and many other interesting
places.
[{Image src='04_Wedding Palace at Kazanka River.jpg' caption='Wedding Palace at Kazanka River' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='621'}]
In fact, Kazan with its centuries-old history and old monuments is a
modern town that has never stopped developing. We offer you to enjoy
this versatile and at the same time unified architectural ensemble from
a bird's eye view.
We are very grateful to RIA Novosti news agency for help in creation of
this virtual tour and the Kazan Organising Committee Media Chief Dilyara
Khasanova for her great help in getting tons of permissions.
\\ \\
[12 Panoramas of Kazan|Geography/Asia/Russia/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Kazan]
[{SET customtitle='Kazan, Summer Universiade 2013 (AP)'}]
[{Metadata Suchbegriff=' ' Kontrolle='Nein'}]