Iske Tash Mosque is the Ninth Cathedral Mosque

Iske Tash Mosque is a monument of Tatar religious architecture with a combination of traditional space planning solutions, classical design of facades and romantic shapes of the minaret originating from the Bulgarian religious architecture. The mosque is located in the New Tatar settlement of Kazan. Sometimes it is called the Ninth Cathedral Mosque or the Old Stone Mosque.
The mosque was built in 1802 on the donations of the merchant Gabdulla Utyamyshev. The architect is unknown. In 1830, it was reconstructed according to the design of Aleksandr Schmidt.
Qibla – the direction to Mecca – was established by the outstanding theologist and reformer Gabdelnasir Kursavi. According to legend, the mosque was erected on the site of the mass grave of Muslim soldiers, defenders of Kazan in 1552. Previously, there was a stone on this place (tat. “zur iske tash” – “big old stone”), hence the name of the mosque. Subsequently, preserving the memory, this historical stone was in front of the entrance to the mosque for a long time, and for some time – even inside the mosque.
The mosque was the social center of the New Tatar settlement. It is interesting that the imams in it were representatives of the Amirkhanov family, from which the famous Tatar writer Fatykh Amirkhan came out.
During the Soviet times, the mosque was closed; it housed a school. When a new, more spacious school building was made next to the mosque, the mosque began to be used as a school warehouse. In 1994, the mosque was returned to the faithful people.