About Kazan REPUBLIC OF TATARSTAN is a federal subject of the Russian Federation. Capital — Kazan in a distance of 793 Km east of Moscow Established — May 27, 1920 Political status — Republic Federal District - Volga Economic region - Volga Area - 68,000 km? (26,254.9 sq mi) Population - 3,779,265 inhabitants Official language(s) — Russian, Tatar President - Rustam Minnikhanov Official website tatar.ru KAZAN City Day: August 30 Capital of Republic of Tatarstan Area 425.2 km? (164.2 sq mi) Population — 1,105,289 inhabitants Founded ~1005 Mentioned in chronicle 1177 Capital of khanate since 1438 Conquered by Russia 1552 Capital of Tatarstan since 1920 Postal code 420xxx Dialing code +7 843 Official website kzn.ru Kazan is the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, and one of Russias largest cities. It is a major industrial, commercial and cultural center, and remains the most important center of Tatar culture. Since April 2009 Kazan has the legal right to brand itself as the Third Capital of Russia, approved by the Russian Patent Office. In 2004 Kazan was named the best city of Russia and became the winner of Russian public award Russian National Olympus. Kazan celebrated its thousand-year anniversary in 2005. Despite of such venerable age, the city is growing and dynamically developing in all respects. Contemporary changes in the outside appearance of Kazan are contributed by the architects with worldwide known names. Being the city of unique historical monuments, Kazan is included into the UNESCO World Heritage Cities list. The origin of the name is unclear. The literal translation of the Tatar word qazan is a boiler or cauldron. It was believed that the city of Kazan is named after this object because of its geographical similarity with a qazan-pan; namely the city is situated in a U-shaped lowland. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka rivers in central European Russia. The way from the capital of the Russian Federation — Moscow — to Kazan takes 1 hour 20 minutes by plane, 10 hours by train or 5 days by ship. 1,2 million people live in the city. The citys population is mainly composed of Tatars (about 52 percent) and Russians (about 43 percent). Different nationalities live in Kazan. Major religions in Kazan city are Sunni Islam and Eastern Orthodoxy. You can hear speech of more than 100 nationalities here. State languages are Russian and Tatar. The city has a beautiful citadel, which was declared the World Heritage Site in 2000. Major monuments in the Kremlin are the 5-domed 6-columned Annunciation Cathedral (1561-62) and the mysterious leaning Soyembika Tower, named after the last queen of Kazan and regarded as the citys most conspicuous landmark. Also of interest are the towers and walls, erected in the 16th and 17th centuries but later reconstructed; the Qol-Sharif mosque, which is already rebuilt inside the citadel; remains of the Saviour Monastery with the Spasskaya Tower; and the Governors House (1843-53, now the Palace of the President of Tatarstan. Kazan is a significant educational and cultural center of Russia. There are about 40 universities operating in the city. Among them there is the Kazan State University founded in 1804 with the faculty composed of and including the world renowned scientist. There are lots of museums, libraries, concert halls, theaters in this city. Two renowned international festivals: the opera festival named after F.I. Shalyapin and the classical ballet festival named after R. Nuriev have been regularly held for a period of many years. One of the important areas of life in the city belongs to sports. Ice hockey Club Ak Bars, soccer Rubin, basketball club Unix, volley ball club Dinamo-TTG and others commendably represent Kazan at the championships of Russia, Europe and the world. Kazan was the host-city for the XXVII World Student Games. gokazan/
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 19:19:38 +0000
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