Kazan

Kazan is the capital city of Tatarstan. The city is situated on the left bank of the Volga river, at the point where the river Kazanka flows into it. The population nearing 1.2 million is made up of 77 different ethnic groups. It is one of the biggest and most important cultural and industrial centres in the Volga region. 

There are museums: State Joint Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan, Tatarstan State Museum of the Fine Arts, and Kazan University ethnographic museum. Museums of famous people: Gabdulla Tukay, Baratynsky, Musa Dzhalil, Salikh Saidashev, Sharif Kamal, and Maxim Gorky. Exhibitions in the city are the Exhibition Hall of the Union of Artists, the National cultural centre, the Vassiliev exhibition gallery, and the Kazanskaya Fair exhibition centre. 

Theatres of Kazan are Dzhalil Tatar opera and ballet theatre, Kamal Tatar theatre, Kachalov Bolshoi Russian drama theatre, Tinchurin State drama and comedy theatre, Kazan youth theatre, State puppet theatre, Bolshoi concert hall, and the Circus.

Besides all of those well-known tourist attractions, Kazan has different interesting sites, mostly of local importance. For instance, many educational facilities such as schools, high schools or universities have museums. The same works for many industrial enterprises. You may visit even real aeroplanes without having to buy a ticket 🙂 

Kazan has a lot of spots for recreation. The river banks, parks, sports facilities, beaches and so on. Many of those are not mentioned in any tourist brochure. Take the advice – have a walk around the city, talk to locals or personnel of your hotel, and you might spend your time well at those hidden cultural “jewels” of Kazan.