The winners of the Open International Competition for the Development of Concept Design of the Cathedral Mosque of Kazan and Surrounding Area were announced in Kazan

On July 8, 2022, on the eve of the sacred holiday of Eid al-Adha, Kazan announced the results of the Open International Competition for the Development of Concept Design of the Cathedral Mosque of Kazan and Surrounding Area. Tied in first place are Ginzburg Architects Architectural and Restoration Agency and the Kazan architect Sattarov Aivar.

The Competition has been launched on April 1, 2022, on the eve of the first day of the holy month of Ramadan. On May 10-11, 2022, as part of the Competition, a seminar was organized for participating teams. The laying of the first stone in the foundation of the Cathedral Mosque took place on May 20, 2022 as part of the events dedicated to the 1100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam by the Volga Bulgaria. On July 6, 2022 the participants presented their concept designs to the expert jury.

Rustam Minnikhanov, President of the Republic of Tatarstan:

“The cathedral mosque was in our thoughts and desires. This is the most significant object in memory of the celebration of the 1100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam by the Volga Bulgaria. The decision has already been made, and we will definitely build this mosque. We received 40 works from 8 countries for the competition, and each work is unique!”.

The Competition, which was held in two stages, was attended both by Russian and foreign companies. In total, more than 40 applications from 8 countries submitted for participation in the Competition. 20 participants from 6 countries passed to the second stage: Russia, UAE, Turkey, Egypt, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan; final entries received from 18 participants.

The total area of the competition territory was 8.2 hectares, the mosque is designed for 10,000 visitors. The participants of the Competition had to take into account a number of factors when designing the mosque: the limitation of the area of the land plot, work on the adjacent territory and its harmonious integration into the existing landscape, as well as a height limit of 80 meters.

Irek Faizullin, Minister of Construction, Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation:

“Each project has something special, but one must understand that for a city like Kazan, there should appear a monument that will remain in the memory of people for centuries. There is a lot of work ahead, but, as always happens in Tatarstan, the result will be exactly what is intended.”

The jury of the competition, chaired by Irek Fayzullin, included 13 representatives of the world of architecture, clergy and culture. Among them: head of the department for relations with religious organisations of the President of the Russian Federation office for domestic policy Evgeny Eremin, Executive Secretary of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO Grigory Ordzhonikidze, Director of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky, President of the Union of Architects of Russia Nikolay Shumakov, Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin, Head of the Muslim Spiritual Board of the Republic of Tatarstan, Mufti of Tatarstan, Kamil Hazrat Samigullin, Chairman of the Council for Islamic education of the Russian Federation Rafik Mukhametshin, Chairman of the Public Chamber of the Republic of Tatarstan Zilya Valeeva and others.

The first place in the Open International Competition for the Development of Concept Design of the Cathedral Mosque of Kazan and Surrounding Area was shared between the Ginzburg Architects architectural and restoration bureau and the architect Aivar Sattarov.

Alexey Ginzburg, Ginzburg Architects Architectural and Restoration Agency (Moscow, Russia):

“The theme of this competition is unique and we have very few such competitions. Many thanks to all participants of the competition. When we arrived here, we did not see weak works. They all deserve the highest praise!”

Aivar Sattarov, architect (Kazan, Russia):

“Thanks to all the guys who have been working with me for three months and helped with inspiration in all this work!”

Two concept design projects are also in second place. Their authors were Sretenskie Architectural Workshops (Moscow, Russia) and HASSA Architecture and Engineering Construction (Istanbul, Turkey).

The third place in the Competition – OSTA LLC (Kazan, Russia).

A special jury prize was awarded to the project of the students of the Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering:

“This competition gave an opportunity to demonstrate their concept design projects not only to professionals with great experience, but also to ordinary people who are just starting their way.”

According to the results of the competition, each finalist will be awarded a monetary reward: two winners who take first place will receive 2,500,000 rubles each, two finalists who take second place will receive 1,000,000 rubles each, and 500,000 rubles will be received by the participant who takes 3rd place.