Wandering about the museum halls, looking at ancient artifacts, studying multi-volume works on history, or even going to excavations together with archaeologists… Nothing can compare to visiting an open-air museum, aimed to “serve as a time machine”, taking visitors back to the eras of the exhibits. In the very center of Kazan, there is a fabulous thematic museum “Staro-Tatarskaya Sloboda” (Old Tatar Quarter). This colorful quarter is filled with the medieval atmosphere, created by dozens of architectural monuments on the shore of the picturesque Kaban Lake. Old Tatar mansions, madrasahs, and mosques, including the first stone shrine of the settlement, the Marjani Mosque of the 18th century. It was the largest mosque in Kazan for two centuries. And it still impresses visitors with its appearance: a unique combination of Provincial Baroque and traditional elements of Tatar decorative and applied art. Other medieval mosques, Apanay, Galiev, and the Burnaev mosque made of red brick, deserve no less attention. While enjoying the elegant sacred architecture, do not forget to visit the madrasah of Muhammadiyah that great personalities of the Muslim world went to. The Old Tatar Quarter also houses an age-old Orthodox temple, the Tikhvin Church of the 17th century. It keeps a rare church relic, the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. According to local legend, the icon stopped the strong fire in the 19th century. But the main gem of the quarter is Yunusovskaya Square, surrounded by the greenery of ancient trees and the most beautiful mansions of Tatar merchants and industrialists, including the legendary House of Shamil and the romantic pink estate of the Yunusov-Apanayevs. In the 19th century, the Eastern Club of famous poets and theatergoers operated in the Old Tatar Quarter, as evidenced by the collections of the Gabdulla Tukay Literary Museum and the Kamal Tatar Theater, which still holds performances and annual theater festivals.