Kazan

The Republic of Tatarstan is located in Russia, and Kazan is both its capital and largest city. With a total area of 425.3 square kilometers (164.2 square miles), the city is located at the meeting point of the Volga and Kazanka rivers. It has a population of about 1.2 million people, with the urban agglomeration housing up to over 1.6 million people. It is the most populated city on the Volga and one of the largest cities in Russia by population.

Kazan became the seat of the Kazan Khanate in 1438. Ivan the Terrible seized Kazan in 1552, and it afterwards joined Russia. During Pugachev's Rebellion in 1773–1775, the city was taken over and largely destroyed, but it was eventually rebuilt under Catherine the Great. In the centuries that followed, Kazan expanded to become a significant industrial, cultural, and religious hub of Russia. Kazan was designated as the Tatar ASSR's capital in 1920, following the Russian SFSR's integration into the Soviet Union. Kazan remained the Republic of Tatarstan's capital following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The colorful fusion of Tatar and Russian cultures is well known about Kazan. 1.5 million people visited the Kazan Kremlin, a World Heritage Site, during the 2.1 million tourists who traveled to Kazan in 2015. Kazan was given permission by the Russian Patent Office in April 2009 to call itself the "Third Capital of Russia." It was selected as the "Sports capital of Russia" in 2009, and that designation is being used today. The 2018 FIFA World Cup was held in Kazan, which was also one of the locations hosting the 2013 Summer Universiade.

Population - 2021: 1,257,341