Temple of All Religions

The Temple of All Religions, officially known as the Universal Temple, is an unusual architectural complex in Kazan’s Staroye Arakchino neighborhood that brings together the forms of different world religions under one roof. It is not a finished historical monument but an ongoing artistic project spanning more than thirty years: construction is still incomplete, and the building itself simultaneously serves as an art gallery, a museum, and a memorial to its creator.

Construction of the complex began in 1993 under Ildar Khanov, a Kazan artist, sculptor and public figure whose concept took shape after long journeys through Tibet and India. The building work was funded from the master’s own money until his death in 2013, after which his younger brother Ilgiz and sister Flyura Galeyeva carried the project forward. According to another version, work actually began back in 1976 and belonged to Ilgiz himself; in any case, the oldest structure on the site is the Khanov family house, built in 1956 and later incorporated into the overall ensemble. Svyatoslav Roerich, son of the mystic painter Nicholas Roerich, also contributed to the concept of the complex.

The ensemble combines an Orthodox church, a Muslim mosque, a Jewish synagogue, a Buddhist pagoda, and elements of structures from other faiths. By 2007 the complex had twelve domes, and according to the creator’s plan, symbols of sixteen religions were meant to appear, including the cults of vanished civilizations — Ildar himself admitted he did not know exactly which four religions remained “missing”: he said the number sixteen had come to him during meditation, together with the very idea of the building.

No church services or religious rites are held within the complex: the original concept never envisioned joint prayer by believers of different faiths, and the temple itself was conceived as an architectural symbol and a museum of the world’s religious diversity. As of 2016, none of the religious communities present in Tatarstan officially recognized the complex. In April 2017 a fire broke out on the grounds, killing one person, though the building itself was saved; repair work began that same July. Inside are an Egyptian hall and a Catholic hall, a Hall of Jesus Christ, halls of Krishna, Buddha, Shiva and Judaism, a picture gallery, and memorial rooms dedicated to Ildar Khanov.

Construction and the filling-out of the complex continue today under the direction of Ilgiz Khanov and Flyura Galeyeva: the interiors are regularly enriched with new exhibits, and the official website offers a virtual 3D tour of the halls. In the autumn of 2023, timed to the UN’s International Day of Peace, a volunteer clean-up day was held on the grounds, bringing together believers of different faiths.

Still unfinished after three decades, the Temple of All Religions remains not a monument of the past but a living, ever-changing work by one artist and those who carry on his cause — a rare example, for Kazan, of art in which architecture serves the idea of interfaith dialogue.