The culture of Tatarstan is molded from the culture of Volga Tatar people, Russian, and European culture.
The education system in Tatarstan is secular. The literacy rate for the total population is about 100%. Elementary and secondary education is compulsory (grades 1–10). Students must pass graduation exams at the end of the 10th grade in order to continue their education in colleges and universities. Most schools are public along with a small number of parochial schools run by churches or mosques. The school year begins in September. Kazan State University is one of the major centers of higher education in Russia. There are several colleges, institutes, and technical schools in Kazan and other cities of the republic.
Traditional (folk) Tatar music is based on the pentatonic scale. The first Tatar opera was staged in 1925. It was composed by Sultan Gabyashi in collaboration with Vasili Vinogradov. Farit Yarullin was the creator of the first Tatar ballet, known as Şüräle . Modern Tatar music includes practically all existing musical genres.
There are 16 professional and dozens of amateur theaters in Tatarstan performing plays in Tatar, Russian, and other local languages.
In 1924, Tatarkino (Tatarcinema), a government company for making documentaries, feature films and others, was created in Kazan.
Major libraries include the Science Library of Kazan State University and the National Library of the Republic of Tatarstan. There are two museums of republican significance, as well as 90 museums of local importance. In the past several years new museums appeared throughout the Republic.
In Tatarstan, religion and the state are separate from each other, although as in the rest of Russia, religious authorities are subordinated to the state. The most common faith are Sunni Islam and Russian Orthodoxy. As of 2004, there were 1,208 buildings used for religious purposes in Tatarstan; 1,014 of which were Islamic, and 176—Russian Orthodox.
The Tatars, formerly also spelt Tartars, is an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" across Eastern Europe and Asia. Initially, the ethnonym Tatar possibly referred to the Tatar confederation. That confederation was eventually incorporated into the Mongol Empire when Genghis Khan unified the various steppe tribes. Historically, the term Tatars was applied to anyone originating from the vast Northern and Central Asian landmass then known as Tartary, a term which was also conflated with the Mongol Empire itself. More recently, however, the term has come to refer more narrowly to related ethnic groups who refer to themselves as Tatars or who speak languages that are commonly referred to as Tatar.
Tatarstan, officially the Republic of Tatarstan, sometimes also called Tataria, is a republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is a part of the Volga Federal District; and its capital and largest city is Kazan, an important cultural centre in Russia. The region's main source of wealth is oil with a strong petrochemical industry.
Kazan is the largest city and capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of 425.3 square kilometres, with a population of over 1.3 million residents, and up to nearly 2 million residents in the greater metropolitan area. Kazan is the fifth-largest city in Russia, being the most populous city on the Volga, as well as within the Volga Federal District.
Chuvashia, officially the Chuvash Republic — Chuvashia, is a republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is the homeland of the Chuvash people, a Turkic ethnic group. Its capital is the city of Cheboksary. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 1,251,619.
Mari El, officially the Mari El Republic, is a republic of Russia. It is in the European region of the country, along the northern bank of the Volga River, and administratively part of the Volga Federal District. The republic has a population of 696,459. Yoshkar-Ola is the capital and largest city.
The Khanate of Kazan was a medieval Tatar Turkic state that occupied the territory of the former Volga Bulgaria between 1438 and 1552. The khanate covered contemporary Tatarstan, Mari El, Chuvashia, Mordovia, and parts of Udmurtia and Bashkortostan; its capital was the city of Kazan. It was one of the successor states of the Golden Horde, and it came to an end when it was conquered by the Tsardom of Russia.
Bolghar was intermittently the capital of Volga Bulgaria from the 10th to the 13th 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 in what is now Spassky District. West of it lies a small modern town, since 1991 known as Bolgar. The UNESCO World Heritage Committee inscribed Bolgar Historical and Archaeological Complex to the World Heritage List in 2014.
Islam is a major religious minority in the Russian Federation, which has the largest Muslim population in Europe excluding Turkey. According to the US Department of State in 2017, Muslims in Russia numbered 14 million or roughly 10% of the total population. One of the Grand Muftis of Russia, sheikh Rawil Gaynetdin, estimated the Muslim population of Russia at 25 million in 2018.
The territory of Tatarstan, a republic of the Russian Federation, was inhabited by different groups during the prehistoric period. The state of Volga Bulgaria grew during the Middle Ages and for a time was subject to the Khazars. The Volga Bulgars became Muslim and incorporated various Turkic peoples to form the modern Volga Tatar ethnic group.
The Volga Tatars or simply Tatars are a Kipchak-Bulgar Turkic ethnic group native to the Volga-Ural region of Eastern European Russia. They are subdivided into various subgroups. Volga Tatars are the second-largest ethnic group in Russia after ethnic Russians. Most of them live in the republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. Their native language is Tatar, a language of the Turkic language family. The predominant religion is Sunni Islam, followed by Orthodox Christianity.
Bolgar is a town and the administrative center of Spassky District in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the left bank of the Volga River, 140 kilometers (87 mi) from Kazan. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 8,650.
Sabantuy is a Tatar, Idel-Uralian, Bashkir and Kazakh ('Sabantoy') summer festival, that dates back to the Volga Bulgarian epoch. At first Sabantuy was a festival of farmers in rural areas, but it later became a national holiday and now is widely celebrated in the cities. In 2012, Kazan Sabantuy was celebrated on June 23.
Bugulminsky District is an territorial administrative unit and municipality of the Republic of Tatarstan within the Russian Federation. The district is located in the southeastern part of the republic and occupies an area of 1,408.6 square kilometers (543.9 sq mi). According to the 2010 census, the municipality had a population of 22,261 people. The main city Bugulma is not included within the administrative structure of the district.
Yelabuzhsky District is a territorial administrative unit and municipality of the Republic of Tatarstan within the Russian Federation. The district is located in the north-east of the republic and occupies an area of 1362.1 square kilometers. According to the 2010 census, the municipality had a population of 81,632. The main city Yelabuga is not included within the administrative structure of the district.
Islam in Tatarstan existed prior to the tenth century, but it began major growth in 922, when Bulgar ruler Almış converted to Islam. This was followed by an increase in missionary activity in Volga Bulgaria. Islam remained the dominant religion through the Mongol invasion and subsequent Khanate of Kazan. In 1552, the region was finally conquered by Russia, bringing the Volga Tatars and Bashkirs on the Middle Volga into the tsardom. Under Russian rule, Islam was suppressed for many years, first during the Tsardom and Empire and later during the Soviet era. Today, Islam is a major faith in Tatarstan, adhered to by 47.8–55 percent of the estimated 3.8 million population, making it one of the two dominant religions in the region, the other being Orthodox Christianity.
Institute of Philology and Intercultural Communication, formerly Kazan Imperial University, is a higher educational institution of Kazan, one of the largest institutes of Kazan Federal University. IPIC has more than 4500 students, 300 teachers and staff members, including 58 Ph.D and 175 candidates of sciences, 11 teachers from foreign countries. The Institute comprises 3 academic divisions: the Leo Tolstoy Higher School of Russian and Foreign Philology, the Gabdulla Tukay Higher School of National Culture and Education and the I.A. Baudouin de Courtenay Higher School of Russian Language and Intercultural Communication. The Institute trains philologists and educators with expertise in linguistics, literary studies, Russian, Tatar and foreign languages, interpretation and translation, educational technologies, design, music, and choreography.
Elabuga Institute, a branch of Kazan Federal University, is a state educational institution of higher professional education of the Russian Federation.
Interfaith relations in Kazan describe the status of the two major religious groups that inhabit the capital city of Kazan, Tatarstan, in Russia. This region is populated by roughly even numbers of ethnic Tatars (48%), whose primary religion is Sunni Islam, and ethnic Russians (46%), whose primary religion is Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
Tatar literature consists of literature in the Tatar language, a Turkic language spoken in the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. Tatar literature is a part of Tatar society and has been part of Tatar history since the existence of a Tatar state. Famous Tatar poets include Kasim Bikkulov, Ğabdulla Tuqay, and Näqi İsänbät.
Tatar nationalism is the belief that Tatars should constitute an independent nation. Finding historical basis in the Khanate of Kazan and Russian–Tatar enmities, Tatar nationalism has often synthesised Islam as a national aspect. Tatar nationalism has historically manifested itself as the Idel-Ural State, as well as the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Tatarstan and the country's period of de facto independence from Russia in the early 1990s.