Marjani Mosque is Kazan's oldest surviving stone mosque and the first Muslim temple built after a nearly two-century ban. This modest building in the Old Tatar Quarter preserves the memory of times when Tatars were forbidden from building mosques in the city. And of the man who helped lift that ban.

History: The First Mosque After the Ban

After the fall of the Kazan Khanate in 1552, Tatars were forbidden from living in the city and building stone mosques. For more than 200 years, Kazan's Muslims prayed in wooden structures in the Old Tatar Quarter — a district beyond the city walls where the...