The last May days I – Evgenia Pushkareva -, together with her daughter, spent in Kazan – a city with a thousand -year history, about which Catherine II, who visited here in 1767, wrote: “This city is undoubtedly the first in Russia after Moscow … It can be seen that Kazan is the capital of the Big Kingdom.” Kazan is ancient of Moscow, and according to the results of the census carried out in 1738, Kazan at that time was the most densely populated city in the country (the number was about 200,000, about 140,000 people in Moscow).
The capital of Tatarstan is now officially wearing the proud title of “Third Capital of Russia”! In 2009, this brand was registered in Rospatent, the city was assigned a trademark, and Kazan from that moment can boldly consider themselves metropolitan residents.
Since we went on a trip with a second-stop daughter, I tried to visit those places that would be as interesting as possible to the child.
In addition, out of the four tasks proposed by my reader audience, the maximum vote was cast for the option “Children’s Self -Government”, during which the daughter herself had to draw up a plan for events for the day.
In my opinion, we got an excellent route along the “children’s” Kazan.
So, let’s start in order.
Kazan Kremlin
Kremlinwhich is listed in the UNESCO World Heritage List. How interesting is the child? And if I tell you that in the Kremlin there is not only amazing The falling tower of Suyumbikeat the gate of which the day meets at night, not only Kul-Sharif Mosquethe vaults of the dome of which are decorated with manually scheduled silk canvases, but also dinosaur skeletons?
Right in the Kremlin is located Museum of Natural History of Tatarstanstriking with its modernity, interactiveness and simply fantastically friendly and Child-Frandli, caretakers who were very surprised at me! They literally run to your child to show him at what angle it is best to consider the plesiosaurus skeleton, how to measure the teenosaurus teeth and where you need to click in order to revive the 3D design of some kind of “owl” there!
Museum “City panorama”
Another no less wonderful and no less interactive museum is located within walking distance from the Kazan Kremlin. It is called “City panorama” And tells the story of Kazan from its occurrence to the present day.
In the halls of the museum there are several huge models of the city (their total area – more than 300 sq.m.), allowing to evaluate how its appearance has changed over the centuries. A completely fantastic detail that brought my daughter to indescribable delight – a huge shadow of Zilant, soaring over one of the layouts. The Dragon of the Causor of Kazan even “dived” into the lake of boar with the corresponding sound effects.
One of the unusual exhibits of the “city panorama” is a video wall with a height of more than 2.5 meters, which opens the view of Kazan from a bird’s eye view. The viewer, controlling the 3D turn and setting the direction of viewing by choosing points on the map, as if soaring over the city. For this interactive exhibit, more than 250 circular aeropaners of high resolution were prepared.
I will not disclose all the cards and describe in detail numerous exhibits. I can only say that the museum is strictly required to visit, especially if you arrived in Kazan with a child!
Park of attractions “Kirlai“
The park is quite decent, albeit relatively small. The attractions are very competently selected: there are entertainment for completely crumbs, and family and extreme. A huge plus is the ability to pay attractions with a bank card or Apple Pay immediately before the entrance. No tickets and queues at the box office! The attractions are not new, but visually in good condition. They are launched even if the child is alone, the company does not need to wait. There we spent about two hours with mutual pleasure.
Museum Chuck-Chak
The daughter remembered him on our previous trip to Kazan and wanted to repeat the visit. The tour consists of two parts: at first we were told about the culinary traditions associated with the preparation of this national dish, about the features of life and the life of the Tatars of the 19th – early XX centuries. The guide in the museum is simply amazing, with a competent and rich speech, interacting with an audience, in an authentic suit that looked very organic. The second part of the tour – a tea party – is also accompanied by an interesting story about culture and traditions.
Bauman Street
Be sure to take a walk along Bauman Street – The local analogue of the Moscow Arbat. Here are ancient merchant houses, the Kazan Hotel, in which Vladimir Mayakovsky, Maxim Gorky, Alexey Tolstoy, as well as one of the oldest drama theaters in Russia, stayed. Children will be interested in the monument to the Kazan cat, which is at the pillow in the image of either Pasha or Padishah, a bronze copy of the carriage of Catherine II, with which my story began, numerous souvenir shops, cafes where you can enjoy the dishes of national cuisine, and the bell tower of the Epiphany Cathedral. This is the highest old building in the city. You can climb on it to consider Kazan from a bird’s height.
If you read this text a couple of years after writing, you can safely add to the list of places that are required to visit the child, the new territory of the Kazan Zobotanic Garden – it is currently in the restoration process, but in the near future it promises to become worthy!
And finally: travel with children, open new places together, expand the horizons! Trust their opinion, listen to their wishes, let our children be versatile people with a wide horizons, let them feel like cosmopolitans, citizens of the world! And while international tourism, to put it mildly, is difficult, it is definitely worth paying attention to the internal – we have something to see and where to visit!
