Two Sources and Two Components of the Kazan Architectural Practices (Second Half of the 19th Early 20th Centuries)

Abstract

This article is a generalized view of the architectural processes in Kazan in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The city fell under the Russian state in 1552 after the conquest of the Kazan Khanate. The imperial center perceived Kazan both as the center of the captured Tatar state and as a window on the East (according to Robert Jeraci) at the same time. This view of the former "capital of the great kingdom" determined the place of the city in the structure of Russian Empire, and its special mission related to the promotion of the "western civilization" to the "unenlightened East". In the 19th century, the capital of the Kazan province became the center of the educational, military and judicial districts. The city's TatarMuslim population was a part of the imperial enlightening project. The article shows that both the imperial and the TatarMuslim aspects emerged clearly in the city image during the period under review but in their own ways.

The imperial component manifested itself in the sustainability of the style of Classicism based on the relevance of the idea of Empire in the conquered region and the continued need to visualize it through architecture. The TatarMuslim aspect reflected the common phenomena of the era related to National building and selfidentification of the peoples that gripped inevitably not only the titular Russian people but also other peoples of the Russian Empire. Public buildings designed for the Tatars and their interest to the oriental forms testifying to the search of the architectural language for demonstrating the Tatar national identity became the display of it