Kazan 1859

If you do a search under "Tatar" or "Kazan", the most common item to come up on Ebay are postcards. Some are titled "Tatar" and are not actually Tatar. These two are of a building that I've never seen before or since.

Does this building still exist?


Here's the blurb associated with one of the images: Ancient Kazan (Iske Kazan) was founded in the late 13th century by the Mongols (Tatars) of the Golden Horde after their overthrow of the Bulgar kingdom on the middle Volga. It was located about 28 miles upstream on the Kazanka and was transferred to the mouth of the river at the end of the 14th century. After the disintegration of the Golden Horde in the 15th century, Kazan became the capital of an independent khanate. It developed as an important trading centre; annual fairs were held on an island in the Volga. In 1469 Ivan III captured Kazan, but his puppet khan organized a massacre of all Russians in the town in 1504. Finally in 1552 Ivan IV the Terrible captured Kazan after a long siege and subjugated the khanate. The old Tatar fortress was rebuilt as a Russian kremlin, the white walls and towers of which survive as a feature of the modern skyline. Kazan was seized in a revolt of 1773-74, and much of the city was burned to the ground; Catherine II the Great rebuilt it on a gridiron pattern. TheCathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul dates from the 18th century. As Siberia was opened up, Kazan's trading importance greatly increased, and industry developed in the 18th century.