There are many undiscovered secrets in the Kazan city history. Therefore the legends, remained in the people’s memory are of great value – the stories about the city rise, about its emblem – Zilant Dragon, about treasures of the Kaban lake, about underground passes under the Kremlin hills, about the Suyumbike tsarina, about people and events.


Legends about Kazan foundation

There are many legends about the origin of the city and its name. Some of them tell that the name of the city comes from the Bulgarian word “Kazan” (cauldron).
One of the legends tells that the oldest son of the last Bulgarian governor Gabdullah came to the bank of the river, carrying copper cauldron. The bank was rather steep and it was inconvenient to draw the water. When he tried to draw some water he dropped the cauldron by accident and it sank in the river. Later the river was named Kazanka (Kazansu). And the city near the river was called Kazan.
The other legend tells about the Mongol khan Khantimer, who robbed Bulgar. When life became unbearable, the leader of one of the tribes - old woman Tuybika with 15 men sailed on the boat along the Volga river. The old woman Tuybika did not even leave the cauldron, the symbol of wealth and prosperity. The cauldron weighed 6 poods and its chain also weighed 6 poods. Passing short distance, the travelers went ashore. They liked the place and decided to stay and live there. They buried the cauldron so that it could bring them wealth and happiness and began building the city. They say that cauldron with chain is still under the city, but nobody can find it.
The third legend tells that before the city foundation khan asked the advice of where to lay the city. And one of the elders advised to pour the water into the cauldron, pit it into the cart, set the fire under the cauldron and ride the horses. The city will be founded on the place where the cauldron boils. The cauldron started boiling on the place where present Kazan is situated.
In accordance with one of the versions, deep in the ground under one of the fortress’s towers there is hidden the pious Muslim, from whose skull the spring with holy water is running. May be they mean the spring near the Kremlin Taynitskaya tower, where the Muslims used to come for ablution before the pray until the middle of the XX century. This spring was flooded during the Kuybishev water storage reservoir construction in 1956.

About Suyumbike

They say, that Ivan the Terrible, find out about the fantastic beauty of the Suyumbike and made a formal proposal of marriage to her. But proud and beautiful tsarina refused him. The Ivan the Terrible decided to use the force – and with numerous troops he besieged the city. To save the city inhabitants Suyumbike agreed to marry him if he builds the highest tower in Kazan within 7 days. They set down to work. At the end of the 7th day the tower was ready. Suyumbike ascended the highest floor of the tower and threw herself on the ground. So she killed herself, not wishing to marry the odious tsar. The Tatar people named the tower in honour of its glorious daughter.
Thus its only the legend, it is known for certain that Suyumbike was married Safa-Girey khan, and after his expulsion from Kazan new khan Shah-Ali took Suyumbike to the town of Kasimov where she slowly lived out her days.

About Kaban lake

Old men tell, as if at the bottom of the Kaban lake there are countless treasures of khan hidden from human eyes by water and ground silt. Not long before the moment when the troops of Ivan the Terrible reached the walls of Kazan, the khan treasury was taken to the lake and flooded in the secret place. According to the legend to find it, you should come to the spring, which falls into Kaban lake near Bulak river head and measure the distance of one or two bow shots (nobody knows the exact distance). Treasures are on such depth, that, even if you know the place, but don’t know another secret, you won’t be able to find them. Many people tried to find the khan treasures, but everything was useless. So they still stay in the bottom of the Kaban lake in silt where even fish can’t see them.

About the Zilant Dragon

The legend about the ancient coat of arms of Kazan is connected with the fairy-tale creature– a winged dragon that lived in the suburbs of the city. People expelled it, having covered the mountain with straw and brushwood and set the fire. After its nest destruction, Zilant moved to the other mountain and revenged the Kazan inhabitants for a long time. Till today the dragon flies over the city and drinks water from the Kaban lake, sometimes dives on the bottom of the lake and pulls the careless bathing people to the bottom.
According to another legend, the functions which were performed by the dragon, are the following: protection of borders, harvesting, protection of people in all their activities. There are many similar legends, and every legend tells us about this vivid creature, which looks like fossil flying pangolin.
Only the Zilant mountain which rises above the old channel of the Kazanka river today reminds us of the prototype of the Kazan arms. The nunnery was built on this mountain during the reign of Ivan the Terrible.
The Zilant image was very popular in the architecture of Kazan. Being the exotic one, it gave the big open space for the imagination of the artists – craftsmen. They represented it in stone, plaster cast, iron, wood, cast iron.

The underground passages

Another legendary and mysterious construction of our city is the underground passages or catacombs. The first notes about the underground Kazan are met in the description of the legendary undermining of the Kazan Kremlin walls, made by the troops of Ivan the Terrible. Undermining ran from the bank of the Bulak river. Having dug through the gallery of hundred sazhen, the troops heard the voices of the inhabitants going underground to bring some water, and brought the powder kegs.
The historians mentioned the legends that a hill on which the Kremlin and a part of the mountain ridge where the Kremlyovskaya street is situated, are indented by the underground passages. Some streets of this district are known for certain. It is the vault of the Gostiny Dvor church, the remains of which are situated in the yard of the National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan. Another large vault is nearby in the Chernyshevsky street. The other large one is under the Boratynsky mansion. There is the underground passage in the form of the round pipe like gallery under the square of the First of May. There are large many-storey cellars under some of the houses of the Kremlyovskaya street, but almost all the passages are buried up and it is difficult to define an orientation and extent of these underground catacombs.

About Our Lady of Kazan
On June, 23, 1579, the house of the Daniil Onuchin, situated at the beginning of the present Bolshaya Krasnaya street, was set in fire, which then destroyed the most part of the city. Soon after that his daughter Matrena saw Holy Mary in her dream and was told that at the place of the burnt house it was hidden the Icon. Adults have not taken the story of the girl seriously though she saw that dream twice. And then ten years old Matrena began to search together with her mother. On the place where the furnace was situated, two vershoks deep she found the Icon of Holy Mary with the baby on her hands, turned in an cherry colour old sleeve, but paints on it shone with primeval brightness. When the message about the icon appropriation was known to the whole city of Kazan there gathered the representatives of the priesthood, the city authorities, and townspeople. Soon its wonderful power becomes apparent.
It is difficult to find the person who has never heard about the icon of Our Lady of Kazan. This icon is one of the most esteemed and, perhaps, the most known in the world. However it is not known for everyone, that for today there exists only its copy, and the wonder-working icon, wonderful appropriation and destiny of which have plenty of miraculous episodes, completely disappeared at the beginning of the XX century.
In summer of 2005 the Kazan icon of Our Lady, which had been kept at the Pope residence for a long time, was transferred to Kazan. The icon is now situated in the Krestovozdvizhensky (The Exaltation of the Cross) church.