Apanaev Mosque

The Apanaev Mosque — also known as the Bai Mosque, the Cave Mosque, and the Second Cathedral Mosque — is one of the two oldest stone Muslim places of worship in Kazan, built at the same time as the Al-Marjani Mosque in the Old Tatar Settlement. The building acquired its present appearance after a large-scale restoration in the early 2000s and today once again serves as a working spiritual and educational center of the Tatar community.

The city’s earlier mosques had been demolished under a decree of Empress Anna Ioannovna, and it was only decades later that the Kazan community won from Catherine II the right to build a pair of new stone mosques in their place. The Apanaev Mosque was built in 1768–1771 with funds from the merchant Yakub Sultangaleev, becoming the second such building in the city after the centuries-old ban on stone Muslim architecture was lifted. The building later took its name from the Apanaev merchant family, who for many years supported the parish and the mahalla around it — hence also the nickname “Bai” (meaning wealthy merchant). The name “Cave” is linked to the hilly terrain and the proximity of the steep riverbank.

The two-story mosque, topped with a minaret, combines forms of Moscow-inflected Russian Baroque with Tatar decorative motifs; the name of the architect has not survived. The building was originally a single hall with an octagonal minaret. In 1872 the architect Pyotr Romanov added a two-story extension on the north side, built in a style consistent with the historic part. A decade later a brick enclosure with a single-story shop was built around the mosque, and in 1887 the shop was enlarged and given a second story.

The mosque was home to a madrasah known throughout Kazan: by 1877, with funds from the merchant Akhmetzyan Rakhmatullin, a two-story educational building was erected here to a design by the same Romanov. In January 1873 a conflict broke out at the madrasah — the schools’ trustee Radlov attempted to introduce Russian-language lessons in the rector’s absence, provoking protest from some of the students; an inquiry found that only two students had instigated the unrest, and the school continued its work. By 1913 more than two hundred shakirds (students) were studying here under a twelve-year program combining religious and secular subjects. In February 1930, by decree of the Tatar Central Executive Committee, the mosque was closed: the minaret and the vaults of the halls were destroyed, the interior was partitioned into three floors, most of the decoration was stripped away, and a kindergarten was installed in the building.

The parish was re-established in November 1992, and in September 1995 the building was returned to the faithful; the Mukhammadiya madrasah has operated here since that same year. A comprehensive restoration in 2007–2011 rebuilt the minaret from scratch, restored the interior’s division into two floors, and recreated the lost façade decoration.

Today the Apanaev Mosque is not only an architectural monument of federal significance but also a working educational center of the Old Tatar Settlement, continuing the madrasah tradition established here in the century before last.