Mosque "Kul-Sharif" (tat. "Kol Sharif" machete) is the main Juma
mosque of the Republic of Tatarstan and the city of Kazan (since
2005), located on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin. One of the
main attractions of the city.
The construction of the temple
began in 1996 as a reconstruction of the legendary multi-minaret
mosque of the capital of the Kazan Khanate, the center of religious
education and development of sciences in the Middle Volga region of
the 16th century. The historical mosque was destroyed in October
1552 during the assault on Kazan by the troops of Ivan the Terrible.
The reconstructed mosque is named after the last imam, seid Kul
Sharif, one of the leaders of the defense of Kazan.
The
mosque is located in the western part of the Kazan Kremlin, in the
center of its own courtyard square. The mosque complex is a
composition of the main building (with six minarets and two
semi-pavilions attached to the sides) and a separate two-story
administrative, utility and fire pavilion, made in the same style.
The complex and the square of the mosque are spatially linked with
the surroundings (the former cadet school and the southwestern
facade wall of the Kremlin) in order to give the object being placed
an urban planning significance and enrich the panorama of the
Kremlin, which is viewed as a visiting card of the city from the
Millennium Square and the Kazanka River.
The internal space
of the mosque is designed for one and a half thousand people, ten
thousand more can be accommodated in the square in front of it.
On October 2, 1552, the Russian army took the capital
of the Kazan Khanate. During the defense of Kazan, its main leader was
seid Kul Sharif. The defenders of the capital offered stubborn
resistance, but during the assault everyone died, including Kul Sharif
himself. The whole city was on fire, the main multi-towered mosque was
also almost completely burned down and was destroyed.
In the fall
of 1995, President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev signed a decree on the
reconstruction of the mosque. In winter, a competition was announced in
which the best project for the revival of the Kul-Sharif mosque was
selected. The architectural design of the mosque began with a team of
winners of the republican competition for the project of the revival of
the Kul-Sharif mosque, architects Sh. Kh. Latypov, M. V. Safronov, A. G.
Sattarov and I. F. Saifullin. Construction, the cost of which is
estimated at about 400 million rubles (estimated - more than 500 million
rubles), was mainly carried out on donations. More than 40 thousand
citizens and organizations took part in donations, records of which are
included in the books in the main hall of the mosque.
For the
construction was chosen the territory of the former cadet school. In the
summer of 2001, the construction of the mosque building was basically
completed with the installation of spiers and domes. The opening of the
mosque took place on June 24, 2005, to the 1000th anniversary of Kazan.
The height of each of the four main minarets is 58
meters. There are also two small minarets. The dome, 39 meters high and
17 meters in diameter, is decorated inside with forms associated with
the image and decorative details of the Kazan Hat.
The
architectural multi-minaret design of the external appearance of the
mosque was achieved through the development of semantic elements that
bring the architecture of the mosque closer to local traditions. Granite
and marble were brought from the Urals, the interior decoration -
carpets - was a gift from the Iranian government, a colored crystal
chandelier with a diameter of five meters and weighing almost two tons
was made in the Czech Republic, stained-glass windows, stucco, mosaics
and gilding.
Inside the mosque (to the right and left in relation
to the main hall) there are two observation balconies for excursions.
The main building of the mosque houses the Museum of Islamic Culture
and the History of the Spread of Islam in the Volga Region, a room for a
solemn wedding ceremony - nikah, and the office of the imam.
The
buildings of the mosque are faced with white marble (shimmering pinkish
at sunset), the dome and spiers of the minarets are turquoise. The
façade of the main building is decorated with bronze metal inscriptions
of Islamic themes and the edges of portals. Decorative paving slabs with
green and red ornaments (in the colors of the flag of Tatarstan) have
been laid on the courtyard square. The mosque has a spectacular night
architectural illumination.