Kazan–Yelabuga. Almost Random Photographs

The previous week was taken up by a trip to Tatarstan, to the International Teachers’ Festival in Yelabuga. Why I went there is briefly explained in that column. And here are photographs taken in the morning in Kazan, as well as in Yelabuga, during the opening of the festival and the related ceremonies. I arrived in Kazan just before midnight, after a train journey from Simferopol to Izhevsk. We traveled for two days and one night, standing for long periods in the blazing sun, and honestly, I regretted going many times. I arrived exhausted from the endless heat and with a cold (a paradoxical combination). The return tickets, on the advice of the hosts, I got via Moscow; I traveled easily and pleasantly. Having arrived in Kazan, I stayed in a hostel. 400 rubles (100 hryvnias) — and a very clean bunk in a 16-person room (almost empty), very clean facilities, and even a morning breakfast. I didn’t eat the breakfast: I went out for a walk around Kazan early in the morning. [IMG_1] This is the train station. Not the only one (the main functions are performed by enormous ultramodern structures), but apparently the oldest building. [IMG_2] First thing I went to the Volga. I wanted to swim. Swimming wasn’t possible (too dirty), but I did see the enormous river. [IMG_3] A white wagtail — exactly like ours. [IMG_4] [IMG_5] They will help... [IMG_6] Then I walked to the center. Beautiful to the point of dizziness. [IMG_7] [IMG_8] Of course, I was eager to visit the Kazan Kremlin. This sculpture stands in the square in front of the entrance. [IMG_9] The entrance... [IMG_10] Inside — a vast territory with the main administrative buildings. Here and there are scattered installations by an Italian designer, like this spoonbill. [IMG_11] Mostly the Kremlin is a reconstruction. The original was destroyed by Ivan the Terrible with great thoroughness. [IMG_12] In the background is the mosque that captured my imagination when I was approaching the city at night. It is wonderfully illuminated: it simply glows and seems to hang in the sky. The night photo below is not my photo — it is taken from Wikipedia. What I saw from the train was even more impressive. [IMG_13] Mine came out simpler: [IMG_14] Here it is. This is the main mosque of Tatarstan. It is called Kul Sharif. It is named after the last imam of the Kazan Khanate, who was one of the leaders of Kazan’s defense against the troops of Ivan the Terrible. [IMG_15] Visitors are allowed into this mosque! I went in… The beauty is extraordinary. [IMG_16] A fragment of a door. In general, you could admire every fragment of this building. [IMG_17] On the lower ground floor is a museum. Its main exhibits are books and miniatures. [IMG_18] [IMG_19] Upon returning, I told one of my reasonable colleagues about the trip and the visit to the mosque — a colleague who knows of my skeptical attitude toward all religious cults (and who seems to share this attitude). I said that I experienced the same awe in this mosque as in the finest Christian cathedrals I had ever visited. He became interested: “So it got to you too? Just imagine how it affects other, less hardened people…” [IMG_20] The Quran. A modern but especially precious edition. [IMG_21] Audacity? This is my self-portrait — a reflection in the glass protecting the Quran. [IMG_22] Nearby — a graphics exhibition. [IMG_23] A jeweler’s copy of the mosque itself… [IMG_24] …and children beside it. They, like all visitors, are wearing shoe covers. [IMG_25] Another installation. [IMG_26] The streets of the Kremlin. [IMG_27] Fragments of ancient masonry. [IMG_28] View of the Volga. The sheer volume of space you can take in with a single glance takes your breath away. [IMG_29] [IMG_30] And here are the gates of the presidential residence. [IMG_31] Here too you could spend a long time looking at the details. [IMG_32] [IMG_33] A complex city, there’s no question about it… [IMG_34] Each of these houses could be admired for a long time. [IMG_35] And here is an Orthodox church on the territory of the Kremlin. [IMG_36] That’s all. I left the Kremlin. [IMG_37] And this is the zilant, the symbol of Kazan. It is believed that it lived on the hill where the Kremlin was built… [IMG_38] …right here. [IMG_39] The former pedagogical institute, now part of Kazan University. There was a mix-up when I was told to meet at the main building of the university, and I simply could not imagine that such a building was not the main one. [IMG_40] A street runs along the riverbanks leading to it. Fountains right in the river. [IMG_41] An enormous sculpture which, as it turned out on closer inspection… [IMG_42] …consists of wormwood growing in some places upside down. [IMG_43] The river flows from a lake in which there is a simply cyclopean fountain. [IMG_44] Nearby — more rows of fountains controlled by “fountain music.” [IMG_45] [IMG_46] [IMG_47] Almost reaches the sun… [IMG_48] A place to get your feet wet. [IMG_49] Many children are playing at the fountains. [IMG_50] Appreciate the scale: the human figures are substantially closer than the fountain! [IMG_51] Finding drugs is no problem. I saw many such stenciled inscriptions. [IMG_52] They explained to me that this is Arabic, not Tatar style. [IMG_53] A less pompous self-portrait. [IMG_54] One of my Facebook “friends” regularly posts photos of the food they’ve eaten. I’ll follow their example. This was taken at a pub. The dark beer was excellent, and with it, on a wooden board, they brought a hot, sizzling, and steaming pan with a lamb sausage and vegetables. Ah… [IMG_55] An Orthodox bell tower. [IMG_56] All right, now we’re in Yelabuga. The opening of the festival. About two hundred teachers participated, who could attend master classes of their choice (plus some additional events). The classes were conducted by people from almost several countries; besides me, there was no one from Ukraine (but there were representatives from Singapore, Germany, and Turkey). [IMG_57] Look at the faces! This is the opening ceremony. Tatar dances. [IMG_58] For the first time I see electric violins. For the first time I see people dancing while playing violins. For the first time I see flames and smoke shooting from the stage during all these events. [IMG_59] [IMG_60] And this is how they imagine Russians. These are the same people who were Tatars a few frames ago. “Scratch a Russian — find a Tatar” (Karamzin). [IMG_61] [IMG_62] And all sorts of youthful things… [IMG_63] And this — girls serving champagne at the entrance to the student canteen (what do you think of that name?). I was slightly shocked (but I took the champagne and drank it, while the girl was beaming at me). I asked a colleague: doesn’t the human dignity of these beauties suffer from being used as pieces of furniture? The answer was: these are Tatar girls; for Muslim girls, such behavior is normal. Yes, incidentally, at the baggage storage at the Kazan train station, women work (and carry very heavy bags). I was embarrassed to let the attendant carry my backpack herself, while she apparently didn’t even understand what was bothering me. And in the taxi, on the way back from Yelabuga, I insisted that the girl who was carsick sit in the front; the other two women (chance fellow travelers, like the girl) were displeased that a woman was sitting in the front seat while a man was in the back. Well, that’s a big conversation, unrelated to the photographs… Yes, a few more things from the same banquet. Since the dance performed at the banquet was clearly of a herpetological character, I’ll post the recording. The audience was delighted. …and I have never liked colorless albino pythons. Natural coloring is much more attractive… And the dancer overacts excessively. [IMG_64] And this — a display panel, never mind where, and never mind on which wall (but quite an official wall). I was surprised and asked: was it accidental that the portrait of the political figure ended up next to a quote whose proximity could be viewed as compromising? The answer was: there is nothing accidental here and there cannot be. Everything was carefully thought through… [IMG_65] And finally, just a street in old Yelabuga… What remains from the trip? Only a small portion fit into these photographs. Thanks to those who organized this trip, and thanks to the hospitable hosts!