KAZAN (called by the Cheremisses Ozon), the chief town of the Tatar Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic, situated on the Kazanka river, in 50' N., 49° 1o' E., 3 m. from the Volga, which reaches the town in the spring floods only. Pop. (1933) 258,700, mainly Russian, though the Tatar element is rapidly increasing. It is a flourishing river port and has railway com munication westward and eastward. The ancient leather indus try, dating back to the Bolgar empire on the Volga, is still im portant and there are 18 leather factories in the town, a good number making morocco leather goods. It is famous for its soap, glycerine and toilet article factory, the largest in Russia up to 1914. It closed during the war and famine period, but is now working at full strength. There are also copper-smelting, machin ery, tallow, tobacco, felt boot, textile and brewing industries. The Kazan fair was formerly a great centre for trade between western Russia and Persia and Turkestan, and was held on an island in the Volga opposite to the town.
Kazan was a centre of Mohammedan culture in pre-1914 times, and had an important printing press. This press now issues Tatar magazines, newspapers, school text-books, and a bulletin of research into Tatar culture. Among the educational institutions are the Communist Tatar university, an Oriental Pedagogical institute, a Department of Agriculture and a Clinical observa tory. The House of Tatar Culture was opened in 1926. Kazan, is of peculiar interest as a place where waves of Slav influence from the west have alternated with Mongol influences from the east, the latter being predominant culturally to-day, while the former still has the political supremacy. The 13 mosques of the Islamic faith, where, though the Revolution has had some effect, the muezzin still calls the faithful to prayer five times a day, stand side by side with the numerous churches of the Slav Greek Orthodox faith. The ancient Kremlin or citadel, founded in 1437, within which were many beautiful churches and monasteries, and the red brick Suyumbeka tower (246 f t.) the reputed burial place of a Tatar saint, also contained an arsenal.
During the civil war following the 1917 revolution, Kazan, as a military centre, became the headquarters of the Bolshevist command in the district, after the fall of Simbirsk (Ulianovsk).
The Czech army captured it in Aug. 1918, but it was re-captured by Trotsky in September, and was attacked by Kolchak's army in 1919. Much of the town was damaged or destroyed during this period, the Kremlin, as an arsenal, suffering specially. The 1921 famine was particularly severe in the Tatar republic and the town still feels the effect of these disasters. One of the first activities since its revival has been an effort to restore as far as possible, the damaged Kremlin buildings. The treasures of the cathedral of the Annunciation (1562) have been removed to museums, but the cathedral itself still stands. The famous miracle working image of the Black Virgin of Kazan used to be housed in the Bogoroditski convent, built for its reception in 1579, but was removed to Moscow in 1612 and St. Petersburg (Leningrad) in 171o. The city of Kazan originally stood 3o m. N.E. of its present position, where traces of it can still be seen and 6o m. S. of Kazan are the ruins of Bolgary (see TATAR AUTONOMOUS SOCIALIST SOVIET REPUBLIC) . Kazan was the capital of the king dom founded by Ulugh Mohammed (Ulu Makhmet), khan of the Golden Horde, in 1438, but was captured by Ivan the Terrible of Russia in 1552, thus opening the Volga to Russian trade and settle ment. Pugachev laid the city waste in 1774 and it was afterwards frequently destroyed by fire.
See Pineghin's Kazan Old and New (in Russian) ; Velyaminov-Zer nov's Kasimov Tsars (3 vols., St. Petersburg, 1863-66) ; Zarinsky's Sketches of Old Kazan 1877) ; Trofimov's Siege of Kazan in 1552 (Kazan, 1890) ; Firsov's books on the history of the native popu lation (Kazali, 1864 and 1869) ; and Shpilevski, on the antiquities of the town and Government, in Izvestia i Zapiski of the Kazan uni versity (1877). A bibliography of the Oriental books published in the city is printed in Bulletins of the St. Petersburg Academy (1867). Cf. also L. Leger's "Kazan et les tartares," in Bibl. Univ. de Geneve (1874). See also the bulletins now issued regularly by the press of the Tatar A.S.S.R.