Kazan: the Kremlin where a mosque and cathedral coexist

The Qol Sharif Mosque, rebuilt in 2005 within the Kremlin of Kazan, remains one of Europe's largest mosques, with minarets exceeding fifty-seven meters.

A few steps away, the Church of the Annunciation, Orthodox and dating from the Sixteenth century, stands a few dozen meters from the mosque in the same fortified complex.

Continuing along the Volga river, you visit the Tower of Söyembikä, leaning like the Tower of Pisa, wrapped in legends about the Tatar queen who gave it her name.

Toward evening, the pedestrian district of Bauman Street animates restaurants of Tatar cuisine, halfway between Turkish and Russian tradition.

The Kazan Kremlin remains a rare example worldwide of a fortress where Islam and Orthodox Christianity have coexisted side by side for centuries, symbolizing the region's mixed Tatar and Russian history.

The Söyembikä Tower leans over one meter and ninety centimeters from the vertical—an inclination caused by ground subsidence that occurred already during the original construction.