The white walls of the Kazan Kremlin were built in the time of Ivan Grozny. Visible on the skyline is the Kul Sharif Mosque completed c 2005, and the Söyembikä Tower built in the 17th-18th century.
They say first impressions are important and my first view of Kazan was beautiful. Rising slowly from the haze of the Volga River, the Kremlin, cupolas of the Orthodox churches and the minarets of the mosques, shimmering in the afternoon heat was like a twisted fantasy from the 1001 Nights. This impression was enhanced by the greeting I was given at the hotel, including drinks with the general director. If you judge a city by its hotels – Kazan is the best I’ve ever been to.
Kazan plays a vital role in understanding the complexity of Russia. There is no clearer demonstration of the merging of cultures than you get with Kazan’s mosques, churches and classical 18th century European buildings. This role as a city at the convergence of cultures, religions and politics is clearly demonstrated by the city’s history, which has been at the heart of many of Russia’s key milestones.
View of Kazan in 1767 by M. le Ch. de Lespinasse of Paris
There is some controversy over when the city was originally founded and by whom. Czech coins have been found on the kremlin (the Russian equivalent to an acropolis) dating to the early 10th century and there is speculation that the city originally was a trading post of Volga Bulgaria on the edge of Bulgar territory. The city is founded by the edge of the Kazanka River which creates a delta in the Volga River and small shelter. The height of the nearest hill makes this a logical location for a trading post and a city and it would be odd if someone didn’t think that it would be worth establishing a city here reasonably early. There are suggestions that the city was not founded until after the Mongol invasion or until the decline of the Mongol Empire in the 15th century. The later claim seems barely credible as the city was captured by the Kazan Khaganate in 1438 and made the capital – indicating that it was already of reasonable size and strategic importance in the 15th century. Kazan became famous for its furniture, leatherworking and goldsmithing.
Changing populations
Originally Muslim, Kazan’s Muslim population was largely massacred or exiled to swampy Kuban after Ivan the Terrible sacked the city in 1552-3. The sacking of Kazan and later Astrakhan played an important role in changing the shape and outlook of Russia. Ivan the Terrible had St Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow built in an eastern style to commemorate the victory, while the invasion of Tatar territory meant the absorption of a large Muslim population within Russian territory. The eastern threats posed by the Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberian khanates forced Russia to look east while simultaneously dealing with western threats from Sweden, Livonia and later Poland.
Ivan the Terrible with his Oprichniki, overseeing his treasury. The Oprichniki were the tsar’s dogs responsible for sniffing out treason. There were the forerunners for Imperial Russia’s history of political police which carried on into Soviet times.
Ivan the Terrible installed Alexander Gorbaty-Shuisky as governor of Kazan who won popularity in Moscow by destroying many of the mosques and palaces in Kazan and forcibly converting large numbers of the Tatar Muslim population. In 1556 he rebuilt the Kremlin and Tatars were banned from living within 30 versts (one verst is a little over a kilometre) of the city. Seven thousand Russian settlers were brought to the city to help with the rebuild and conversion of the territory. As the Crimean and Kazan Tatars had been raiding Russian territory for the past generations, Gorbaty-Shuisky’s ruthless treatment won him admiration in Moscow and envy from the tsar. After about ten years as governor, Ivan had him framed for treason and summoned Gorbaty-Shuisky and his 17 year-old son to Moscow where he had them both beheaded in 1564.
Gorbaty-Shuisky’s work to Russianise the city clearly was incomplete as the city took the first opportunity it could to declare independence in the Time of Troubles at the start of the 17th century. Independence was short lived and suppressed in 1612.
The Kazan Kremlin is built overlooking the Volga River. It was captured in 1552-3 by Ivan the Terrible who detonated gunpowder to breach the wall.
The city was again destroyed during the Pugachev Rebellion of 1773-5. This rebellion started as a Cossack uprising in Orenburg and soon took cities along the Volga River: including Samara and Kazan, and across to the Ural mountains. The timing of the revolt is interesting in that it largely coincides with the American War of Independence and the French Revolution.
Pugachev’s revolt was largely caused by greater impositions being placed upon serfs but was assisted by Catherine II (the Great’s) seizure of power with the murder of Emperor Peter III – her husband, by her lover. Pugachev’s rebellion achieved widespread support and conquered a large area of Russian territory and is considered one of the more serious threats to the Romanov dynasty’s 300 year rule. The Pugachev Rebellion was the background to Alexander Pushkin’s story The Captain’s Daughter.
Catherine the Great had Kazan rebuilt following the destruction of the city during the Battle of Kazan in 1774 and allowed mosques to be constructed as part of the new city.
Soyembika Tower: According to legend the tower was built in seven days by Ivan the Terrible’s artisans. The tower supposedly received its name after the wife of the last khan threw herself from the top. The first tier of the building was built in the 15th-16th century, while the other tiers appear to have been built in the 17th-18th century.
In the 19th century the city started playing an important role in development of society and Russia. In 1801 Russia’s first copy of the Koran was printed in Kazan. In 1804, Kazan State University was established as the third university in Russia. Leo Tolstoy studied at the Oriental Studies department before dropping out and joining the army. It was in the army that he began writing from the frontline in the Crimean War. His writing was so popular in St Petersburg that the emperor ordered him to be removed from active duty to avoid an untimely end to the promising young writer’s life. Russian writers of the 19th century often had untimely endings.
Lenin also studied law at Kazan State University before he was banned for participating in Marxist evenings and anti-tsarist protests. He later completed his law degree in Samara where he then worked as a court clerk before moving to St Petersburg to develop his political career where there were greater opportunities in his field of work.
In 1917 Kazan again declared independence as the Idel-Ural State before joining with the Bolsheviks and in 1918 got embroiled in the conflict involving the Czechoslovakian Legion.
Czechoslovakian Legion
During World War I, a number of military units were established for Czechoslovakian volunteers who wanted independence from Austro-Hungary. In Russia this unit comprised volunteers, Czechoslovak prisoners of war, deserters from the Austro-Hungarian army, and the like. It grew in number to about 65,000 during the course of the war.
After the Soviet Union signed the Brest-Litovsk Treaty on 22 February 1918 it agreed to repatriate the Czechoslovak Legion to the Western Front to continue fighting the war. As Russia’s western ports were not safe, it was decided to transfer the legion to Vladivostok where it could then embark on the journey back to France. I imagine this idea was suggested by the Germans as it increased the logistical difficulties substantially and transporting 60,000 men across the Atlantic could not be described as being without dangers.
In the meantime Russia had descended into civil war. With parties warring on all sides, everyone wanted to enlist the help of the Czechoslovakian Legion. The legion itself found using the Russian railway system difficult (anyone who has tried catching a train in Russia will understand this), especially as the Soviets were simultaneously trying to repatriate German prisoners of war coming back from Siberia. Tensions between all parties led to ongoing battles as the Czechoslovakian Legion attempted to reconnect with its own forces and tried to make its way through Siberia to Vladivostok. As a result of this impromptu conflict the legion ended up taking control of most of the major cities along the Transiberian railway.
In Europe it became clear that the legion was the most cohesive military unit operating in Russia and European powers wondered about the possibility of getting the legion to turn back to reopen the Eastern Front against Germany. This in part led to the allied intervention in Russia as the allies attempted to prevent arms provided to the Imperial Russian government falling into the hands of the Germans or the Bolsheviks. As time went on and the war with Germany drew to an end, these operations grew in scale and intention, leading to what Soviet historians have described as a concerted conspiracy to destroy the Soviet Government. The number of troops sent by Allied governments were largely small, but given the chaos and the difficulties the Soviet Government was facing in 1919, any intervention was threatening. Nobody likes being invaded by five different countries on different flanks while fighting a civil war – it’s just not cricket after all.
Having survived the Czechoslovakian Legion and the Russian Civil War, Kazan went on to become an important centre during World War II, manufacturing tanks and aircraft for the front.
Merging Cultures
The Griffin is Kazan’s protector and in ancient times was thought of as the King of Animals and protector of treasures. In more recent heraldry it was thought to inspire courage. Given the number of times the city has been sacked it seems to inspire more bravery than sense.
Kazan’s history is reflected in the architecture of the current city and kremlin, which merges Muslim, Orthodox and European together. The city is the capital of modern day Tatarstan and has a certain amount of autonomy from Moscow. It’s centre is clean, busy and attractive with many of the buildings having recently undergone repairs and flower gardens having been laid out. The temperature sat at about 30 degrees Celsius each day and gave the city an exotic foreign feel – I could almost imagine myself being in the Middle East, but a very peaceful and civilised Middle East. There were no street urchins or “friends” offering me special deals “just for me”.
The city demonstrates Russia’s development as a nation dealing with different confessions, ethnicities, political structures and inclinations, showing strong western, eastern influences to develop its own culture that merges east and west. From time to time Russia goes through periods where it emphasises one element over another and this has historically led to socio-economic and sometimes political upheavals as a consequence.
The Kul Sharif Mosque sits behind 18th century European buildings in the Kazan Kremlin
Kazan today merges both the Orthodox and Muslim together. Promotional films for the city show an equal content of Muslim and Orthodox, Russian and Tatar in what appears to be a conscious effort to demonstrate at least to the rest of Russia that two cultures can co-exist – or perhaps more to the point, that two cultures can merge.
The superficial result is a modern, comfortable city which would be a delight for anyone to visit – which in the future might show the world how to manage the clash of civilisations more harmoniously.
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