ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the creation and evolution of imperial architecture in “long” nineteenth-century Russia, focusing on the transformation of the provincial city of Kazan, the important Tatar city and former capital of the Kazan Khanate conquered in the mid-sixteenth century. It shows not only the impact of architectural models of the center on cities in the province but also the significance of the conquest of Kazan for Russia’s identity and its self-representation as an empire, underlined by a range of mutual interactions between prominent buildings in Kazan and the capitals of St. Petersburg and Moscow. In the debates about the appearance of non-Christian prayer houses, Russia’s claims as a protector of the Orthodox faith collided with the need to accommodate the needs of minority confessions. In general, Kazan can be understood as an example of an imperial project of internal colonization with a feedback loop between center and periphery.
