Three years ago, the excursion center "Kazan Mysteries" together with TV-3 launched a tour of the mystical places of the city. The correspondent of IA "Tatar-inform" went along an unusual route to find out where the secret "places of power" are in Kazan and how to restore the balance between good and evil.
The excursion begins with a group gathering near the clock on Bauman. In addition to us, it was attended by schoolchildren with their parents in the amount of 24 people who came from Moscow for a few days. The maximum number of people on the excursion during its entire existence was 50, said the guide and author of the unusual route Julia.
During the 2018 World Cup, excursions will take place as part of a regular schedule. This is usually every Saturday night as the groups are recruited. In addition, the excursion can always be ordered individually, specifically for the group.
Meanwhile, Julia's acquaintance with the group is interrupted by a man in dark glasses, a raincoat and a light ball. A man, introducing himself as a sentinel, mysteriously says that the balance of light and dark forces is disturbed in the city and he alone will not be able to solve this problem. A group of young rescuers led by their parents and their accompanying Julia went to the bus, which was already waiting for us nearby.
How and for whom are the "Secrets of Kazan" held?
The tour is designed for different age groups. When such a mixed adult-child group comes, we try to maneuver between them, says Yulia. “The youngest participant in all of the Kazan Mysteries was four years old, and then he went through to the end. It goes well from the second grade, that is, the school version, which we adapt specifically for them. Great for adults and young people, because mysterious stories are not boring format. Serious corporate groups often come to us.
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On the bus, the participants of the excursion receive magic items: a flashlight, "Appendix No. 13" and a pencil to fill in the blank fields on the application sheet. As soon as the bus moves towards Bulak, the mystical voice of the sentinel begins to explain the essence of the journey - you need to go around the mysterious places of the city and check where exactly the balance was disturbed. The darkness that envelops the city adds even more ambiance to what is happening.
The Watcher is responsible for the piece with urban legends, each at least 100 years old, and each with a historical source where this story is first encountered. Actually, Julia is responsible for the historical component. “A lot of historical work has been done here, that is, when we launched the TV-3 project in 2015, we had the task of making a theatrical and story-driven tour, one that would show the secret corners of the city. And we decided for ourselves that it would not overlap with any of the sightseeing tours of Kazan. It turned out that the story can be made delicious and wrapped in a beautiful candy wrapper,”she notes.
On the one hand, due to the fact that the excursion takes place in the dark, Kazan is shown in the light of night lights. The only thing is that, due to the World Cup, travel to the Kazan Family Center is currently limited. At the same time, the authors of the excursion strive to show such places in the city that neither tourists nor Kazan residents themselves know about, but they are at the same time interesting - this is the Temple-Monument to the Soldiers, the Palace of Culture of Chemists, the Hermitage Garden. By the way, residents of Kazan also regularly book excursions as a corporate party for some company, and for school graduations. It should be noted that during the excursion we learned a lot about the city in which we have been living for more than one year.
From Bulak to the Hermitage
Walking lazily along Bulak, the participants of the excursion listen to stories about the bridges located on the river, and at the same time the bus is interactive with questions about the history of the city. They are most often answered by the adult audience, and the children are fascinated looking out the window.
Having turned to the Kirov dam, the bus makes its first stop at the Temple-monument to the soldiers who fell during the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible. Here, according to history, the headquarters of the king was located when he was besieging the city. The brave warriors of Kazan defended the city to the last, but they were surrendered by a defector from the Tatar side. He reported that the Tatars had a secret passage to the water source, which was subsequently blown up. Having lost fresh water, Kazan surrendered, and a temple appeared at the burial site.
Making a short stop in the former Admiralteyskaya Sloboda, where the oldest river port of Kazan is located, we move towards the Novo-Savinovsky district. The escorts warn that our next point will be a real cemetery. However, the bus stops near the well-maintained Pine Grove park near the Chemists' House of Culture, where couples walk at this time, and children frolic under the gaze of their parents on the playground. A group of tourists is perplexed: "So this is the cemetery?"
Turning on the lanterns, we head deeper into the park, which, as it turned out, was literally built on bones. The modern recreation area is located on the site of the necropolis of the Kizichesky monastery, which has existed since the 17th century. Now, in memory of the people resting here, there is a large stone cross on which the names of the most eminent are carved - the great-grandfather of the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, the poet Gavrila Kamenev, the first traveler to Antarctica Ivan Simonov and others. The location is "seasoned" with stories about a ghost that still roams the park, and the mysterious letter "G" carved into the bark of one of the pines.
Heading to the Lenin dam, tourists find out why the Kozya Sloboda has such a name, what does the plague have to do with it, and how the decision was made to build Kazan exactly on the place where it is now.
The next stop is the Church of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa, where a prison was located in Soviet times. Until Soviet times, the Kazan Mother of God Monastery was located here. By the way, one of the towers has survived there, we approach it. An incredible view of the Palace of Farmers and the Kremlin embankment opens from here, and each of the tourists takes a memorable photo against the background of the night lights of Kazan. The children's component of the group is clearly becoming less active - tired, parents say.
The final point right after the Black Lake Park is the Hermitage Garden, to which we drive up late at night. Earlier, on the site of the garden, there was the estate of the nobleman Vorozhtsov, who, according to history, killed his serfs for the slightest offense and buried them in the garden. That is why Kazan Park has not developed a very good reputation, despite its convenient location in the very center of the city.
It is here that the time comes to utter the cherished words of a mysterious spell that appears to the group during the excursion. However, they also need to be pronounced according to a special ritual - standing in a circle and holding hands. And, of course, where without a magical photo with glorious heroes who conquered the dark forces and saved Kazan from misfortunes.
Of course, these are far from all the secrets that can be found out by going on a night trip to Kazan. Perhaps that is why this format of entertainment is in demand among local residents and guests of the city. So, in just four days of the May holidays, 8-9 excursions were held, says Yulia.
Guzel Gaynanova
