Description of the attraction
Apanaevskaya mosque (other names - Second Cathedral, Bayskaya, Peshchernaya) is located in the Old Tatar settlement of Kazan. The mosque was built in 1768-1771. with the money of the Tatar merchant Yakub Sultangaleev. The leaders of the Muslim community of Kazan received permission from Catherine II to build two stone mosques. The second mosque built was the al-Marjani Mosque.
The new mosque was named Apanaevskaya in honor of the Apanaev merchants, who maintained the mosque at their own expense. The name "Cave" was assigned to the mosque due to the hilly relief of the surrounding area and the presence of a steep coast nearby.
The architectural style of the mosque contains elements of the Russian (Moscow) Baroque and elements made in the Tatar traditions of decorative art. At first, the mosque had one hall, but later, according to the project of P. I. Romanov, a two-story room was added to the mosque. In style, it corresponded to the original architectural design. The mosque became two-story, two-hall, with a minaret located on the roof of the building. In 1882, a brick fence with a one-story shop was erected around the mosque. In 1887, a second floor was added to the shop.
The mosque was closed in 1930. In the Soviet period of history, the vaults of the halls and the minaret collapsed near the mosque. The decorative elements of the interior decoration have been cut, the interior volume has been divided into three floors. A kindergarten was opened in the building.
In 1995, the building was transferred to the madrasah. In 2007–2011 the building of the mosque has been comprehensively restored. By the beginning of the restoration, almost nothing remained of the original appearance of the mosque building. The destroyed minaret was restored, the internal division into two floors was restored. Unfortunately, the old interior decoration has been completely lost.
In our time, the Apanaevskaya Mosque is active. It is a monument of cult architecture of the 18th century.
