Kul Sharif Mosque
mosque in Qazan Kremlin, Qazan, Tatarstan
The Kul Sharif Mosque (Tatar: Кол Шәриф мәчете, romanized: Qol Şərif məçete; Russian: Мечеть Кул-Шариф, romanized: Mechet' Kul-Sharif) located in Kazan Kremlin, was reputed to be – at the time of its construction – one of the largest mosques in Russia, and in Europe outside of Istanbul.
History
Originally, the mosque was built in the Kazan Kremlin in the 16th century. It was named after Kul Sharif, who was a religious scholar who served there. Kul Sharif died along with his numerous students while defending Kazan from Russian forces in 1552 during the Siege of Kazan, and the mosque was destroyed by Ivan the Terrible's forces. It is believed that the building featured minarets, both in the form of cupolas and tents. The current building is a replacement, constructed in the first years of the 21st century and completed in the year 2005.
See also
Islam in Russia
List of mosques in Russia
List of mosques in Europe
References
Kinossian, Nadir (July 2012). "Post-Socialist Transition and Remaking the City: Political Construction of Heritage in Tatarstan". Europe-Asia Studies. 64 (5): 879–901.
“Kul Sharif Mosque” enters the record as mosque in Qazan Kremlin, Qazan, Tatarstan. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Sharif, Mosque and mosque can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q121198. Authority coordinates are 55.798, 49.105. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1552, 2005 and 2012.
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