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Kazan

 
Dictionary: Ka·zan   (kə-zăn', -zän') pronunciation


A city of west-central Russia on the Volga River east of Moscow. Founded in 1401, the modern city became the capital of a powerful Tartar khanate in 1455 but was conquered by Czar Ivan IV in 1552. In the 18th century it was an outpost of Russian colonization to the east. Population: 1,110,000.

 

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City (pop., 2006 est.: 1,112,673), capital of the Tatarstan republic, western Russia. Located at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka rivers, it was founded in the 13th century by Mongols of the Golden Horde; it became the capital of an independent khanate in the 15th century. In 1552 Ivan IV (the Terrible) captured Kazan and subjugated the khanate. The city was burned in a revolt (1773 – 74), but after its reconstruction it grew in importance as a trading centre, and by the beginning of the 20th century it had become one of the chief manufacturing cities of Russia.

For more information on Kazan, visit Britannica.com.

Kazan is the capital and major historic, cultural, and economic center of the autonomous republic of Tatarstan, Russia. It is located on the left bank of the Volga River where the Kazanka River joins it, eighty-five kilometers north of the Kama tributary. In 2002 it had an estimated population of 1,105,300.

The traditional understanding is that the name comes from the Turkic and Volga Tatar word qazan, meaning "kettle." A rival theory has been proposed that it derives from the Chuvash xusan/xosan, meaning "bend" or "hook," referring to the bend of the Volga near which Kazan is located. The Bulgars founded Iski Kazan in the thirteenth century as one of the successors to their state, which had been destroyed by the Mongols. At that time, it was located forty-five kilometers up the Kazanka. Around the year 1400, it was moved to its present location. Ulu Muhammed, who had been ousted from the Qipchaq Khanate in 1437, defeated the last ruler of the principality of Kazan to establish a khanate by 1445. It was an important trading center, with an annual fair being held nearby.

During the first half of the sixteenth century, the khanate of Kazan was involved in a three-cornered struggle with Muscovy and the Crimean khanate for influence in the western steppe area. Ivan IV conquered the city in 1552, ending the Khanate of Kazan. Muscovy then used Kazan as an advanced staging area for further expansion down the Volga. In 1555 the archepiscopal see of Kazan was established.

From the late sixteenth century on, Kazan was the gateway to Siberia, as people and supplies were funneled through the town en route to the east, and furs and minerals were brought west. It was made capital of the Volga region in 1708, and Peter I had the ships for his Persian campaign built there. The Slavonic-Latin Academy, which became the Kazan Theological Academy, was founded in 1723 but abolished after 1917. From 1723 to 1726 the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul was built in Kazan. The first lay provincial secondary school was founded there in 1758.

Kazan was sacked by Emelian Pugachev in 1774, but Catherine II rebuilt the city on a gridiron design and named it a provincial capital in 1781. During the eighteenth century, light industry and food production developed, as well as a theater, which led to a number of similar theaters being founded in the nineteenth century. In 1804 the University of Kazan was founded, which helped to establish the city as an intellectual center. The first provincial newspaper was published there in 1811. Kazan was also considered a major manufacturing center, the products of which included prepared furs, leather manufacture, shoes, and soap. In the 1930s heavy industry developed, such as aircraft production and transportation and agricultural machinery. More recent industries include the production of chemicals, electrical engineering, and precision equipment, as well as oil refining. In 1945 the Kazan branch of the Academy of Sciences was established. Presently, Kazan has a philharmonic society, a museum of Tatar culture, and a theater devoted to the production of Tatar operas and ballets.

Bibliography

Bukharaev, Ravil. (1995). Kazan: The Enchanted Capital. London: Flint River.

Keenan, Edward L. (1979 - 1980). "Kazan - The Bend." Harvard Ukrainian Studies 3/4: 484 - 96.

Matthews, David J., and Ravil Bukharaev, eds. (2000). Historical Anthology of Kazan Tatar Verse: Voices of Eternity. Richmond, England: Curzon Press.

Pelenski, Jaroslaw. (1974). Russia and Kazan: Conquest and Imperial Ideology (1438 - 1560s). The Hague: Mouton.

—DONALD OSTROWSKI

 
Kazan (kəzän', -zăn', Rus. kəzä'nyə), city (1989 est. pop. 1,094,000), capital of Tatarstan, E European Russia, on the Volga. It is a major historic, cultural, industrial, and commercial center. Manufactures include chemicals, explosives, electrical equipment, building materials, consumer goods, and furs. Kazan's port and shipyards on the Volga make it an important water transport center.

A settlement near the city's present-day site was founded by the Eastern Bulgars c.1000 A.D. Kazan later became the capital of a powerful, independent Tatar khanate (1445), which emerged from the empire of the Golden Horde. The khanate was conquered and the city sacked in 1552 by Ivan IV. It became the capital of the Volga region in 1708 and was an outpost (18th cent.) of Russian colonization in the east. It was burned by Pugachev in 1774 and was rebuilt during the reign of Catherine II. Little remains of the Muslim period except the Suyumbeka tower in the impressive 16th-century kremlin. Tolstoy and Lenin studied at the Univ. of Kazan (founded 1804). The city also has a branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, an ancient cathedral, several monasteries and mosques, and the Russian Islamic Univ. (founded 1998). The name is sometimes spelled Kasan.


Weather: Kazan
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Tuesday HI:  23°F / -5°C
LO: 20°F / -6°C
Wednesday HI:  31°F / 0°C
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LO: 16°F / -8°C
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LO: -12°F / -24°C
Last updated December 29, 2009 12:09 (EST)

Dialing Code: The telephone dialing code for: Kazan, Russia
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The country code is: 7
The city code is: 8432


Local Time: Kazan', Russia
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It is 8:59 PM, December 29, in Kazan' (Russia).

Wikipedia: Kazan
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Kazan (English)
Казань (Russian)
Казан, Qazan (Tatar)
—  Inhabited locality  —
Kazan collage.jpg
Kazan.
Map of Russia - Republic of Tatarstan (2008-03).svg
Location of the Republic of Tatarstan on the map of Russia
Kazan is located in Tatarstan
Location of Kazan on the map of the Republic of Tatarstan
Coordinates: 55°47′N 49°10′E / 55.783°N 49.167°E / 55.783; 49.167Coordinates: 55°47′N 49°10′E / 55.783°N 49.167°E / 55.783; 49.167
Coat of Arms of Kazan (Tatarstan) (2004).png
Coat of arms
Flag of Kazan (Tatarstan).png
Flag
Holiday August 30[1]
Administrative status
Country Russia
Federal subject Republic of Tatarstan[2]
Capital of Republic of Tatarstan[2]
Municipal status
Municipal Status Urban okrug
Mayor[3] Ilsur Metshin[3]
Representative body City Duma[3]
Statistics
Area 425.3 km2 (164.2 sq mi)[4]
Population (2002 Census) 1,105,289 inhabitants[5]
Rank 8th
- Density 2,599 /km2 (6,700/sq mi)[6]
Time zone MSK/MSD (UTC+3/+4)
Founded ~1005[4]
Postal code(s) 420xxx[7]
Dialing code(s) +7 843[8]
Official website http://www.kzn.ru/

Kazan (Russian: Каза́нь; Tatar: Казан, Qazan) is the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. The eighth largest city of Russia, it lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. The Kazan Kremlin is a World Heritage Site. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the right to brand itself as the "Third Capital" of Russia.

Contents

Name

The origin of the name is uncertain. The Tatar word qazan means 'boiler' or 'cauldron'. Alternately, it may have been derived from the Tatar qazğan, 'dug' (with reference to ditches). Qazan is originally a name for a special cooking pan, similar to the wok, but heavier. The belief that the city of Kazan is named after this object comes from the terrain's similarity to a qazan: the city is situated in a U-shaped lowland. Another, more romantic legend tells a story of a Tatar princess Söyembikä, who dropped a golden dish (golden qazan) into the river while washing it, and that the city was founded at that site. Additionally, legends of the Chuvash people refer to the Bulgarian Prince Khusan (Хусан) (this being the Chuvash rendering of the Muslim name Hasan) and that is the Chuvash name for the city.

History

Kremlin Tower with the Qolsharif Mosque in the background.

Main dates

  • End of the Xth — beginning of the XIth century - the city was founded
  • End of the XIVth — beginning of the XVth century Kazan becomes a capital of Kazan khanate
  • 1408 - starts to mint own coins
  • 1552 Kazan was seized by Ivan IV Grozny and Kazan khanate became a part of Russian state
  • 1556 - construction of modern Kremlin
  • Since 1708 - centre of Kazan province
  • 1759 - the first provincial classical school was opened
  • 1771 - two madrasahs were opened (Akhun and Apanay)
  • 1791 - first theatre was opened
  • 1804 - Kazan State University was opened
  • 1874 - gas lighting in Kazan
  • 1896 - was built railroad to Moscow
  • 1899 - electrical tram and urban water supply started to work
  • 1920 - Kazan is a capital of Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialistic Republic (and then Tatarstan)
  • 1979 - population is over 1 million inhabitants
  • 2005 - Kazan Metro was opened

Descriptive

There is a long-running dispute as to whether Kazan was founded by the Volga Bulgars in the early Middle Ages or by the Tatars of the Golden Horde in the mid-fifteenth century, as written records before the latter period are sparse. If there were a Bulgar city on the site, estimates of the date of its foundation range from the early 11th century to the late 13th century (see Iske Qazan). It was a border post between Volga Bulgaria and two Finnic tribes, the (Mari and the Udmurt). Another vexatious question is where the citadel was built originally. Archaeological explorations have produced evidence of urban settlement in three parts of the modern city: in the Kremlin; in Bişbalta at the site of the modern Zilantaw monastery; and near the Qaban lake. The oldest of these seems to be the Kremlin.

If Kazan existed in the 11th and 12th centuries, it could have been a stop on a Volga trade route from Scandinavia to Iran. It was a trade center, and possibly a major city for Bulgar settlers in the Kazan region, although their capital was further south at the city of Bolğar.

After the Mongols devastated the Bolğar and Bilär areas in the 13th century, migrants resettled Kazan. Kazan became a center of a duchy which was a dependency of the Golden Horde. Two centuries later, in the 1430s, Hordian Tatars (such as Ghiasetdin) usurped power from its Bolghar dynasty.

Some Tatars also went to Lithuania, brought by Vytautas the Great.

In 1438, after the destruction of the Golden Horde, Kazan became the capital of the powerful Khanate of Kazan. The city bazaar, Taş Ayaq (Stone Leg)' became the most important trade center in the region, especially for furniture. The citadel and Bolaq channel were reconstructed, giving the city a strong defensive capacity. The Russians managed to occupy the city briefly several times.

As a result of the Siege of Kazan (1552) Russia under Ivan the Terrible conquered the city for good and the majority of the population was massacred. During the governorship of Alexander Gorbatyi-Shuisky, most of the khanates's Tatar residents were killed or forcibly Christianized. Mosques and palaces were ruined. The surviving Tatar population was moved to a place 50 kilometres (31 mi) away from the city and this place was forcibly settled by Russian farmers and soldiers. Tatars in the Russian service were settled in the Tatar Bistäse settlement near the city's wall. Later Tatar merchants and handicraft masters also settled there. During this period, Kazan was largely destroyed as a result of several great fires. After one of them in 1579, the icon Our Lady of Kazan was discovered in the city.

In the early 1600's, at the beginning of the Time of Troubles in Russia, the Kazan Khanate declared independence with the help of the Russian population, but this independence was suppressed by Kuzma Minin in 1612.

In 1708, the Khanate of Kazan was abolished, and Kazan became the center of a guberniya. After Peter the Great's visit, the city became a center of shipbuilding for the Caspian fleet.

The major Russian poet Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin was born in Kazan in 1743, the son of a poor country squire of Tatar ancestry though himself having a thoroughly Russian identity.

Kazan was largely destroyed in 1774 as a result of the Pugachev revolt, a revolt by border troops and peasants led by the Don Cossack ataman (captain) Yemelyan Pugachev, but was rebuilt soon afterwards, during the reign of Catherine the Great. Catherine also decreed that mosques could again be built in Kazan, the first being Marjani Mosque. But discrimination against the Tatars continued.

In the beginning of the 19th century Kazan State University and printing press were founded by Alexander I. It became an important center for Oriental Studies in Russia. The Qur'an was first printed in Kazan in 1801. Kazan became an industrial center and peasants migrated there to join its industrial workforce. In 1875, a horse tramway appeared; 1899 saw the installation of a tramway.

After the Russian Revolution of 1905, Tatars were allowed to revive Kazan as a Tatar cultural center. The first Tatar theater and the first Tatar newspaper appeared.

In 1917 1917 Kazan Gunpowder Plant fire occurred in Kazan. In 1918, Kazan was a capital of the Idel-Ural State, which was suppressed by the Bolshevist government. In the Kazan Operation of August 1918, it was briefly occupied by White Czechs. In 1920 (after the October Revolution), Kazan became the center of Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In the 1920s and 1930s, most of the city's mosques and churches were destroyed, as occurred elsewhere in the USSR.

During World War II, many industrial plants and factories to the west were relocated in Kazan, making the city a center of the military industry, producing tanks and planes.

In the late 1980s and in the 1990s, after the dissolution of the USSR, Kazan again became the center of Tatar culture, and separatist tendencies intensified. Since 2000, the city has been undergoing a total renovation. The historical center, including its Kremlin, has been rebuilt. A single-line metro opened on 27 August 2005. The Kazan Metro has six stations and there are plans to extend it.

Kazan celebrated its millennium in 2005, although the date of the "millennium", was fixed rather arbitrarily. During the millennium celebrations, the largest mosque in Russia, Qolsharif, was inaugurated in the Kazan Kremlin, the holiest copy of Our Lady of Kazan was returned to the city, and the "Millennium Bridge" was also inaugurated that year.[9]

Historical naming

See also: Iske Qazan

  • Tatar (now, 1928–1939): Qazan;
  • (1939–2000): Казан;
  • (1918–1928): قازان ;
  • (1918–1922), Arab: قزان ;
  • Russian: Каза́нь [Kazan];
  • Arab (hist.): Bulgar al-Jadid (in Tatar transliteration:Bolğar âl-Cädid) - New Bolğar;
  • German: Kasan, Latin: Casan, French: Kazan, Polish: Kazań, Latvian: Kazaņa,
  • Finnish: (Old) Kasaani (New) Kasani

Demographics

All Religions Temple. A building and cultural center built by the local artist Ildar Khanov
Roman Catholic church in Kazan
Population of Kazan since 1800

Ethnicity and religion

The city's population consists almost entirely composed of either Tatars (about 52 percent) and Russians (about 43 percent). The remainder consists of Chuvash, Ukranians, Azeri, and Jews. Major religions in Kazan city are Sunni Islam and Eastern Orthodoxy. Atheism is also popular. Minor religions are Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, Krishnaism, and Bahá'í.

Languages

Russian and Tatar languages are widely spoken in the city. Russian is understood by practically all the population, apart from some older Tatars. Tatar is widely spoken mainly by Tatars. The derogatory term Mankurt (Mañqort) is used for Tatars who are ashamed of their own culture and language.

Population

Population of Kazan city (01.01.2009)[10]:

  • 1,130,717 resident population (7th in Russia)
  • 1,180,238 registred population
  • 1,432,000 greater Kazan
Year Population
1550 50,000
1557 7,000
1800 40,000
1830 43,900
1839 51,600
1859 60,600
1862 63,100
1883 140,000
1897 130,000
1917 206,600
1926 179,000
1939 398,000
1959 667,000
1979 989,000
1989 1,094,400
1997 1,076,000
2000 1,089,500
2002 1,105,289 (census)
2008 1,120,200
2009 1,130,717

Climate

Kazan has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb) with long cold winters and warm, often hot dry summers. The warmest month is July with daily mean temperature near 20 °C (68 °F), coldest - January −12 °C (10.4 °F).


Weather data for Kazan (1971 - 2000)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 3.8
(39)
5.2
(41)
11.0
(52)
29.5
(85)
33.8
(93)
37.5
(100)
37.9
(100)
37.7
(100)
32.3
(90)
23.4
(74)
15.0
(59)
6.1
(43)
37.9
(100)
Average high °C (°F) -8.2
(17)
-7.2
(19)
-0.6
(31)
9.8
(50)
18.9
(66)
23.5
(74)
25.0
(77)
22.4
(72)
15.8
(60)
7.2
(45)
-1.5
(29)
-5.7
(22)
8.3
(47)
Average low °C (°F) -14.9
(5)
-14.0
(7)
-7.9
(18)
1.4
(35)
7.9
(46)
13.1
(56)
15.0
(59)
12.8
(55)
7.6
(46)
1.4
(35)
-6.3
(21)
-11.6
(11)
0.4
(33)
Record low °C (°F) -46.8
(-52)
-39.9
(-40)
-31.7
(-25)
-25.6
(-14)
-6.5
(20)
-1.4
(29)
2.6
(37)
1.6
(35)
-5.4
(22)
-23.4
(-10)
-36.6
(-34)
-43.9
(-47)
-46.8
(-52)
Precipitation mm (inches) 35
(1.38)
30
(1.18)
25
(0.98)
34
(1.34)
38
(1.5)
70
(2.76)
66
(2.6)
59
(2.32)
55
(2.17)
54
(2.13)
44
(1.73)
38
(1.5)
548
(21.57)
Source: [11] 22/03/2009

Central Kazan

Kremlin

The view of the Kazan Kremlin

The city has a beautiful citadel (Russian: kreml, or, sometimes, Tatar: kirman), 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 city's most conspicuous landmark.

Also of interest are the towers and walls, erected in the 16th and 17th centuries but later reconstructed; the Qol-Şarif mosque, which is already rebuilt inside the citadel; remains of the Saviour Monastery (its splendid 16th-century cathedral having been demolished by the Bolsheviks) with the Spasskaya Tower; and the Governor's House (1843-53), designed by Konstantin Thon, now the Palace of the President of Tatarstan.

Next door, the ornate baroque Sts-Peter-and-Paul's Cathedral on Qawi Nacmi Street and Marcani mosque on Qayum Nasiri Street date back to the 18th century.

Bistä or Posad

Central Kazan is divided into two districts by the Bolaq canal and Lake Qaban. The first district (Qazan Bistäse or Kazanskiy Posad), historically Russian, is situated on the hill, the second (İske Tatar Bistäse or Staro-Tatarskaya Sloboda), historically Tatar, is situated between the Bolaq and the Volga. Mosques, such as Nurullah, Soltan, Bornay, Apanay, Äcem, Märcani, İske Taş, Zäñgär are in the Tatar district. Churches, such as Blagoveschenskaya, Varvarinskaya, Nikol'skaya, Tikhvinskaya, are mostly in the Russian part of the city. The main city-centre streets are Bauman, Kreml, Dzerjinski, Tuqay, Puşkin, Butlerov, Gorkiy, Karl Marx and Märcani.

An old legend says that in 1552, before the Russian invasion, wealthy Tatars (baylar) hid gold and silver in Lake Qaban.

Wooden Kazan

In the beginning of 1990s most of Central Kazan was covered by wooden buildings, usually consisting of two floors. There was a historical environment of Kazan citizens, but not the best place to live in. During the Republican programme "The liquidation of ramshackle apartments" most of them (unlike other Russian cities), especially in Central Kazan, where the land isn't cheap, were destroyed and their population was moved to new areas at the suburb of the city (Azino, Azino-2, Quartal 39). Nearly 100,000 citizens resettled by this programme.

Other major buildings

Another significant building in central Kazan is the former "Smolentzev and Shmelev" tea house and hotel, now the Shalyapin Palace Hotel. It is located at 7/80 Universitetskaya Street, at the corner of Universitetskaya and Bauman. A major landmark of late-19th and early-20th century commercial architecture, it consists of two portions. The original portion, built for a merchant named Usmanov in the 1860s, was bought by the inter-related families of Efim Smolentzev and Pavel and Nikolai Shmelev in 1899.[12] They operated a store selling, among other things, tea. In 1910, the Smolentevs and Shmelevs constructed another portion, designed by architect Vasili Trifonov, and operated a hotel there.[13] After the Russian Revolution, the building eventually became the Hotel Soviet and after 2000 it was heavily renovated to reopen as the Shalyapin Palace Hotel.

Cityscape

A panoramic view of Kazan Kremlin, Vernicle temple and Kazanka river right bank
Kazanka right bank

Education and science

Primary and secondary education

Primary and secondary education system of Kazan includes:

  • 282 kindergartens, most of them are municipal
  • 178 schools, 2 of them are private
  • 28 vocational technical schools
  • 15 colleges
  • 10 special colleges

There are also 49 music schools, 10 fine-arts schools and 43 sports schools.

Higher education

Main building of Tatarstan Academy of Sciences

There are 55 institutes of higher education in Kazan, including branches of universities from other cities. Most prominent of them are:

  • Kazan State University was founded in 1804 and has had several prominent students, including Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky, Leo Tolstoy and Vladimir Lenin. The University is famous for outstanding scietific discoveries, including Non-Euclidean geometry (Lobachevsky), the element Ruthenium (Karl Klauss), theory of chemical structure (Butlerov), and electron paramagnetic resonance (Zavoisky). KSU includes 14 faculties, four institutes, and two branches (in Naberezhnie Chelny and Zelenodolsk). There are 16,000 students and 615 aspirants in KSU.
  • Kazan State Technological University (KCTI) is one of the largest educational institutions in Russia. The school began on July 14, 1890 as a joint secondary chemical and technological school and primary technical school with vocational training in mechanics, chemistry and construction. KCTI represents the beginning of technical education in Russia and Tatarstan. There are more than 27,000 students studying in the 11 faculties of KSTU (KCTI).
  • Kazan State Technical University (KAI) was established in 1932. Today the University is one of the leading institutions in the development of aircraft and rocket engineering, engine- and instrument-production, computer science, and radio engineering. There are more than 16,000 students studying in KTSU's nine faculties (KAI).
  • Kazan State Medical University is one of leading medical universities of Russia.
  • Kazan State Finance and Economics Institute trains economists for finance and credit system and industry.
  • Kazan State Energetics University trains engineers for energetics sector. There are more than 12,000 students in KSEU.
  • Kazan State Conservatory.

Science

Kazan is one of the biggest scientific centres of Russia. City hosts:

  • scientific centre of Russian Academy of Sciences, since 1945. It includes 5 academical institutions.
  • Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, since 1991. It includes 7 local departments with 13 academical institutions (also, 21 organisations are under the guidance of TAS) and one branch in Ulyanovsk[14].

Government and administration

Administrative division

Kazan districts map.jpg
Kazan town hall
Cabinet of Ministers

Kazan is divided into seven districts:

No. District Population[15] Area (km²)
1 Aviastroitelny 109,582 38.91
2 Vakhitovsky 93,083 25.82
3 Kirovsky 110,465 108.79
4 Moskovsky 132,400 38.81
5 Novo-Savinovsky 196,783 20.66
6 Privolzhsky 222,602 115.77
7 Sovetsky 240,374 76.87

Mayor

Mayor is the head of the city. İlsur Metşin has been the mayor of Kazan since November 17, 2005

City Duma

Kazan City Duma is a representative body of the city, elected every four years.

Executive committee

Executive committee is a municipal body of the executive organs. Committee's head is Rafis Burganov, since January 17, 2008.

Tatarstan government

Kazan hosts Tatarstan President's residence and administration (in Kremlin), Tatarstan's Cabinet of Ministers and Council of State (on Freedom square).

Economy

Kazan is one of the largest industrial and financial centres of Russia, and a leading city of the Volga economic region in construction and accumulated investment.[16] Total banking capital of Kazan banks is third in Russia.[17] The main industries of the city are: mechanical engineering, chemical, petrochemical, light and food industries. An innovative economy is represented by the largest IT-park in Russia which is one of the largest of its kind amongst Eastern Europe science parks.[18][19] Kazan ranks 174th (highest in Russia) in Mercer’s Worldwide Quality of Living Survey.[20]

Macroeconomics

Main indicators of 2008[21][22]
Indicator Value Gross to 2007
Total output volume, rub 123,6 bln. 107,4 %
Employed, inh. 565 000
GRP, rub 271,3 bln 105 %
Average income, rub 17 300 [23] 134 %
Retailing turnover, rub 211 bln 120,5 %
Investions, rub 102 bln [24]
Expenditure, rub 18,361 bln
Revenue, rub 17,76 bln
Deficit, rub 0,601 bln

Plant facilities

Several Top-500 Russian companies[25] are headquartered within city boundaries:

  • TAIF (192,10 bln rub. annual receipt)
  • Tatenergo (47,13 bln rub.)
  • Kazanorgsintez (21,19 bln rub.)
  • Transtechservice (14,87 bln rub)
  • Vamin (9,7 bln rub.)

There are 151 large- and middle-scale enterprises in Kazan city, 98 of them are JSCs. Main industries are: machinery construction, chemicals and petrochemicals, light and food industries. Factory shipments in 2008 year total 94,8 bln rub.

Main enterprises of the city:

"Kazanorgsintez" JSC produces 38 % of Russian polyethylene. It also produces a large variety of petrochemical and chemical products.

  • Kazan State Powder Mill

Founded in 1788.

  • Kazan helicopters plant

Produces "Mi" helicopters.

KAPO currently produces the Tu-214 passenger plane and the Tu-160 strategic bomber. There are also plans to start producing Tu-334 regional airliners and Tu-330 freighters.

  • Kazan optical mechanics plant
  • Kazan motors building production association
  • "NEFIS-cosmetics" JSC (Kazan chemical complex)

Produces a large variety of cleaning agents

  • Kazan brewery

Is a proper of EFES group.

  • Kazan medical apparatus plant
  • Kazan rubber plant ("KVART" JSC)
  • Kazan heat devices plant
  • Kazan artificial leather plant

Banks

Largest banks of Kazan city are:

  • Ak Bars Bank — net wealth for 01.10.08 — 190 bln rub.[26]
  • Tatfondbank — 40 bln rub.
  • "Kazansky" bank — 10 bln rub.
  • "Spurt" bank — 9,4 bln rub.
  • Energobank — 9,0 bln rub.
  • Intechbank — 5,6 bln rub.
  • "Ipoteka-invest" — 3,6 bln rub.
  • "Zarechye"
  • Tatecobank
  • Tatinvestbank
  • Akibank
  • BTA-Kazan
  • Alfabank

Tourism

A unique combination of historic city and modern megalopolis attracts tourists to Kazan. 345 thousand tourists visited Kazan in 2004, 550 thousand in 2005 and 800 thousand in 2007.[27] Kazan Kremlin attracts more than 200 thousand tourists per year [28]. There are more than 40 hotels in the city, including:

Riviera
Grand Hotel
Stars Hotel name
* * * * * Mirage
* * * * Bon Ami
* * * * Grand Hotel
* * * * Giuseppe
* * * * Korston
* * * * Riviera
* * * * Suleiman Palace
* * * * Shalyapin Palace
* * * Ryan Johnson
* * * Amax-Safar
* * * Bulgar
* * * Volga
Stars Hotel name
* * * Gulfstream
* * * Derbyshky
* * * Dusliq
* * * Ibis
* * * Kolvy
* * * Novinka
* * * Teatral'naya mansion
* * * Premium
* * * Prestige House
* * * Polyot
* * * Regina (network)
* * * Hayall

Construction

Apartment house construction (thousands m²)[29]
Year Value
2000 541,8
2003 611,3
2004 874,7
2005 632,0
2006 729,6
2007 742,3
2008 901,5 [30]

Transport

Kazan International Airport

Night aerial view of Kazan
"Prospect Pobedy" metro station
City bus

Kazan International Airport is located 26 kilometers from the city centre. It is a hub for Tatarstan Airlines and hosts 11 air companies. Airport is connected with city by bus route #97. There is also the Kazan Borisoglebskoye airfield which contains a major aircraft factory.

Railways

Kazan is connected with Moscow, Ulyanovsk, Yoshkar-Ola and Yekaterinburg by railways.

Main railway station "Kazan passazhirsky" is located in the city centre and includes main building (built in 1896), commuter trains terminal, ticket office building and some other technical buildings. Station serves 36 intercity trains and more than 8 million passengers per annum [31].

There is a second terminal in the northern part of city, it serves only one intercity train. Reconstruction of the Northern terminal is freezed.

Kazan city has also 19 platforms for commuter trains

Riverside station

Station serves intercity ships and commuter boats. Pneumocushion boats are used in winter time. Daily passenger turnover reaches 6 thousands.

Bus station

Bus station is situated in Devyataeva street. Bus routes connect Kazan with all districts of Tatarstan, Ufa, Sterlitamak, Samara, Tolyatti, Ulyanovsk, Baki, Aktobe.

Highways

There are highway connections to Samara, Orenburg, Ufa, Cheboksary, Naberezhnye Chelny (Yar Çallı), Almetyevsk (Älmät), Bugulma (Bögelmä), and Chistopol (Çístay).

There are five bridges across the Kazanka (Qazansu) river in the city, and one bridge connecting Kazan with the opposite bank of the Volga.

Public transit

  • A single-line Kazan Metro, the north-southeast Central Line, opened on 27 August 2005. The Kazan Metro has six stations, but there are plans to extend the line in both directions and is due to cross the Kazanka river with the station "Kozya Sloboda" in 2010. Single ticket - 12 rub.
  • The Kazan tram system was fouded in 1899. 8 routes use 187 km of lines and 197 tramcars[32]. Single ticket - 12 rub. Rolling stock: LM-99, 71-608, 71-605.
  • The Kazan trolleybus system was founded in 1948. 355 km of lines are used for 14 routes [33]. Single ticket - 12 rub. Vehicles: ZIU-682, Trolza-5275-05 "Optima", VMZ-5298.01-50 "Avangard".
  • The Kazan bus system was totally renovated in 2007. 91 routes have an aggregate length of 1981 km. All 1444 buses have are colored red. The price of a single ticket is 15 rub. Buses are produced by "Golden Dragon", "Higer", "NefAZ", "MAZ", "Yutong", "Hyundai", "Bogdan-Isuzu"

Sports

"Basket-hall"

Men's teams:

Famous athletes

Infrastructure

Important events

  • Kazan is the host city for the 2013 Summer Universiade.
  • 2005 Bandy World Championships
  • 2008 ice hockey juniors world championship
  • 2008 boxing students world championship
  • 2007 field hockey Europe championship
  • Kazan will host 2011 weightlifting Europe championship
  • Bandy World Championships again in 2011

International relations

Consulates

Two consulates general are found in Kazan.[35]

  • Iran Consulate-General of Iran.
  • Turkey Consulate-General of Turkey.

Twin towns — Sister cities

Kazan is twinned with:

International organisations membership

Kazan has an Alliance française centre.

See also

References

  1. ^ http://kgmu.kcn.ru/english/about_kazan.html
  2. ^ a b The city of Kazan official portal
  3. ^ a b c The city of Kazan official portal
  4. ^ a b Investment Passport of Kazan
  5. ^ Федеральная служба государственной статистики (Federal State Statistics Service) (2004-05-21). "Численность населения России, субъектов Российской Федерации в составе федеральных округов, районов, городских поселений, сельских населённых пунктов – районных центров и сельских населённых пунктов с населением 3 тысячи и более человек (Population of Russia, its federal districts, federal subjects, districts, urban localities, rural localities—administrative centers, and rural localities with population of over 3,000)" (in Russian). Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года (All-Russia Population Census of 2002). Federal State Statistics Service. http://perepis2002.ru/ct/html/TOM_01_04_1.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-19. 
  6. ^ The value of density was calculated automatically by dividing the 2002 Census population by the area specified in the infobox. Please note that this value may not be accurate as the area specified in the infobox does not necessarily correspond to the area of the entity proper or is reported for the same year as the Census (2002).
  7. ^ Kazan Russia — a thousand-year Russian city
  8. ^ Current local time in Kazan
  9. ^ Putin joins Tatarstan festivities BBC News 2005-08-26
  10. ^ Численность населения по городам и районам Республики Татарстан на начало 2009 года
  11. ^ "Pogoda.ru.net" (in Russian). http://pogoda.ru.net/climate/27595.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-22. 
  12. ^ "ИЗДАНИЯ ЦБС "Прогулки по городу"". http://www.cbs-kazan.ru/izdania-progulki-baumana3.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-20. 
  13. ^ "До тысячелетия Казани осталось 36 дней. Гостиница "Совет"". http://info.tatcenter.ru/photo/29350.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-20. 
  14. ^ Структура АНРТ
  15. ^ 2002 Census
  16. ^ Основные социально-экономические показатели городов 2008
  17. ^ Расстановка точек над столицами
  18. ^ В строительство IT-парка вложили 3 миллиарда
  19. ^ Инновационный технопарк Идея
  20. ^ NZ cities excel in quality of living - Mercer worldwide survey finds
  21. ^ (in Russian) Отчёт мэрии Казани за 2008 год
  22. ^ (in Russian) Об основных итогах социально-экономического развития г. Казани за 2008 год и перспективах на 2009 год
  23. ^ (in Russian)Среднемесячная зарплата в Казани в 2008 году достигла 17,3 тысячи рублей
  24. ^ (in Russian)Комитет экономического развития
  25. ^ Топ-500 крупнейших компаний России
  26. ^ (In Russian)Рейтинг РБК: крупнейшие банки
  27. ^ (RUS)Миллион туристов в год посещают Казань
  28. ^ (RUS)Депутаты Казани признали программу развития туризма на 2006—2007 гг. выполненной
  29. ^ (RUS)ВВОД В ДЕЙСТВИЕ ЖИЛЫХ ДОМОВ ПО СТОЛИЦАМ РЕСПУБЛИК, КРАЕВЫМ, ОБЛАСТНЫМ ЦЕНТРАМ
  30. ^ [1]
  31. ^ ГЖД в 2006 году больше всего пассажиров отправила со станции Горький-Московский
  32. ^ Выступление А. К. Абдулхакова на аппаратном совещании 09.02.2009 «Об итогах работы городского пассажирского транспорта за 2008 год»
  33. ^ В 2008 году в Казани всеми видами городского транспорта перевезено 319,9 млн пассажиров
  34. ^ Video from their 1st Russian Cup victory against Yenisey from Krasnoyarsk in the final. http://bandynet.ru/node/7273
  35. ^ Offices in Kazan
  36. ^ Visiting card of Kazan city (in Russian)

Further reading

External links


 
 

 

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