Kul Sharif Mosque
I. Sayfullin + S. Shakurov + Sh. Latypov + A. Sattarov + project team · Kazan, Russia · 2005
Kul Sharif Mosque was built within the Kazan Kremlin as a contemporary memorial to the principal mosque of the Kazan Khanate destroyed in 1552. The design team combined an octagonal prayer hall, tall paired minarets and blue roofs with stone and decorative systems intended to evoke Tatar Islamic traditions without reconstructing a lost building literally. Construction began in 1996 and the mosque formally opened in 2005 for Kazan’s millennium celebrations. Its location within the UNESCO-listed Kremlin makes it both an active religious institution and one of post-Soviet Russia’s most visible acts of architectural cultural revival.