“The City of Two Origins – Euro-Asian City”, “Tatar Moscow”, “University City”: Images and Myths of Kazan in the 19th Century Texts

Abstract

In 19th century Russia, the Kazan province was an “internal” and one of the “Great Russian” provinces, but nevertheless it was not an ordinary administrative-territorial unit in the empire. Its uniqueness was determined by the historical past of the region and the official perception of the city as the capital of the conquered Tatar state, a mediator in relations between the Russian state and the Muslim East, and the center of enlarging the area of civilization in the Asian part of Russia. The subject of this research is the impressions recorded in the texts of the 19th century – memoirs, travel notes, diaries, etc., expressing the unofficial and private perception of Kazan, its urban space and architectural identity – Russian-Tatar, Euro-Asian, university, by contemporaries.