Tatar mosque
Encyclopedia
Tatar mosque — is the typical mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

 architecture in Tatarstan
Tatarstan
The Republic of Tatarstan is a federal subject of Russia located in the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Kazan, which is one of Russia's largest and most prosperous cities. The republic borders with Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, and Orenburg Oblasts, and with the Mari El, Udmurt,...

 and other Volga Tatar-populated
Volga Tatars
The Volga Tatars are the largest subgroup of the Tatars, native to the Volga region.They account for roughly six out of seven million Tatars worldwide....

 areas of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. Occasionally found in other regions of Russia, modern Tatar religious architecture was developed in the late 18th century and gained popularity in the 19th century Idel-Ural
Idel-Ural
Idel-Ural is a historical region in Eastern Europe, in what is today Russia. The name literally means Volga-Urals in the Tatar language. The frequently used Russian variant is Volgo-Uralye...

.

History

The earliest examples of Islamic Tatar architecture are located in Bolghar
Bolghar
Bolghar was intermittently capital of Volga Bulgaria from the 8th to the 15th centuries, along with Bilyar and Nur-Suvar. It was situated on the bank of the Volga River, about 30 km downstream from its confluence with the Kama River and some 130 km from modern Kazan...

; none of them are in use today. They reflect strong similarities to Central Asian Islamic architecture from which the designs were derived. However, it is believed that design of rural mosques, opposing to Central Asian-like mosques of capital cities, evolve from their ability to withstand the harsh local climate. Many mosques, both stone and wooden were built, according to this style.
The oldest of the still active modern Tatar mosques is the Märcani mosque in the Tatar capital of Kazan
Kazan
Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...

. Dating from the reign of Catherine the Great, the mosque's minaret
Minaret
A minaret مناره , sometimes مئذنه) is a distinctive architectural feature of Islamic mosques, generally a tall spire with an onion-shaped or conical crown, usually either free standing or taller than any associated support structure. The basic form of a minaret includes a base, shaft, and gallery....

 is placed in the center of a gabled roof. It is believed that the concept was adopted from traditional rurual Tatar mosques. The Märcani mosque is an example of revival
Revival
Revival may refer to:*Resuscitation of a person*Language revival of an extinct language*Revival of a defunct team*Revival of a former television series*Revival of a former hit play in a new production...

 Tatar religious architecture as most mosques were destroyed due to the Christianization
Christianization
The historical phenomenon of Christianization is the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once...

 edict of 1742.

Unification

The edict on unification of church buildings of 1817 was expanded to the mosques in 1831, when the exemplary project was developed and circulated to governorate architectural offices of Kazan
Kazan Governorate
The Kazan Governorate or Government of Kazan was a governorate of Imperial Russia from 1708–1920, with the city of Kazan as its capital.-History:...

, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm
Perm Governorate
Perm Governorate - an administrative unit of the Russian Empire and the USSR in 1781-1923 years. Located on both slopes of the Ural Mountains...

 and Simbirsk Governorates. Tatar mosques, such as Märcani and Apanay were built in baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 style. İske Taş and Pink Mosques were contributed to classicism
Classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...

style.

Among the architects, contributed to the mosques building in the 19th century the most notable were Pyatnitsky, Korinfsky, Schmidt, Peske, Romanov, Yermolayev, Pavlov, Parensov, Petondi, Tekhomirov, as well as non-professional architects Mansurov, Foshderebryuggen, Jakobson.

In 1844 anther exemplary mosque project was introduced, which was used mostly for urban mosques. The minaret was placed at the northern part of the building, under the door. However, mosques with minarets in the roof are constructed till today.
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