It is simply impossible to pass by the Temple of All Religions in the suburbs of Kazan. This unusual structure leaves no one indifferent, because Christian crosses, Muslim minarets, the Star of David, the Buddhist circle of samsara and even the pagan horn of the god Odin are peacefully coexisting in it. The author and builder of this unique building is Ildar Khanov, a man obsessed with the idea of uniting all world religions.
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This extraordinary artist was born in 1940 in the very village where the temple now stands - in Old Arakchino. The family was poor: father - a loader, mother - a housewife, three children are small and small. They interrupted themselves from bread to water, huddled in a dugout. It was there that the event took place, which determined the further fate of Ildar. When the boy was three years old, he almost died of hunger. His two older brothers had already died of malnutrition, and now it seems his turn has come.
Ildar lost consciousness and was between life and death for several days. Relatives were slowly preparing for the funeral. Suddenly the little boy came to life. It was a real miracle. What happened? On the verge of death, the boy heard a strange whistle, which gradually turned into a solemn melody. At that moment, some unknown force grabbed the child, and he rushed into a long tunnel, at the end of which a light dawned. There he was surrounded by angels, and then a tall handsome man took the hand.
“I am Jesus Christ,” said the stranger. He showed the boy the Gardens of Eden, and he wanted to stay in this perfect and beautiful world forever. “At home there is war, hunger, cold, and I don’t want to go back there,” the boy said. However, Jesus replied, “You must return. A special mission awaits you. You are needed there. The boy opened his eyes and saw his mother's face. He remembered for the rest of his life how it lit up with a happy smile. Relatives of Ildar exchanged their last boots for milk and left the child.
Returning from the other world, Ildar gained the ability to see everything in a special light. For example, he surprised adults a lot by stating that he sees a brother in his mother's belly. Indeed, nine months later, my mother gave birth to another son. Later, the boy learned to heal sick people and was successfully engaged in healing all his life.
But in his youth he began to draw and sculpt, and the passion for creativity overpowered other hobbies, as a result, Ildar went to the Kazan Art School. After graduation in 1960, he entered the prestigious V. Surikov Moscow Institute.
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THE HOUR WILL PUNCH
In the capital, the talented young man wasted no time and not only learned the intricacies of art, but also learned from his older comrades. So, Khanov met Svyatoslav Roerich - the son of the famous artist Nicholas Roerich and his wife Helena. One could only dream of such a meeting! The outstanding painter himself, Svyatoslav Nikolaevich, had extensive knowledge in a wide variety of areas, it is not surprising that the conversations of two kindred spirits were often dragged out all night.
Roerich had something to tell his young colleague. Roerich managed to live and work not only in the USSR: he spent two years in Finland, studied at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, then practiced in the USA, visited India, where he eventually settled. In 1948, Roerich and his wife bought a manor near Bangalore from a British subject, which they turned into a cultural center. There, the artist tried to fulfill his old dream - to bring up a more perfect person.
On the basis of the center, Roerich created a school that accepted children from the age of three. The concept of education was based on moral and ethical education according to a specially developed methodology. Having learned about Roerich's ascetic activity, Ildar Khanov came up with the idea of creating a similar center in his small homeland. So the idea was born to build the Temple of all religions. Together with Roerich, he discussed this plan, but in Soviet times it was unrealistic to implement it.
Nevertheless, Ildar did not lose hope of someday fulfilling his dream. Roerich supported the young artist, wrote from abroad in letters: “Dear Ildar, I am glad to meet you. Your art, powerful and beautiful, carries the secret of primordial beauty. May God grant you health and strength in the implementation of the program of the Ecumenical Temple - the temple of unity of souls. Know, many people listen to you, but they do not hear. But the hour will strike! All the best to you!"
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It took many years to wait for this “hour”. Ildar wasted no time. He visited Tibet, India, Nepal, studied Chinese medicine, yoga, Eastern religions and martial arts. Upon returning home, he strove to pass on knowledge to compatriots, taught yoga, healed patients with herbs brought from trips. At the same time, the artist was also passionately fond of such a "purely European" sport as boxing. Once he even became the boxing champion of Kazan.
In 1975, in Naberezhnye Chelny, his first sculpture was opened - "Motherland", dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War. The opening of the composition, however, caused a big scandal: it turned out that the installation of the monument was not coordinated with the Union of Artists. In general, the Tatar artist has always been an uncomfortable person for the authorities. Back in Soviet times, he proposed building a Muslim mosque on the territory of the Kazan Kremlin. Then this idea was taken with hostility.
Time has passed, and now the Kremlin in the capital of Tatarstan cannot be imagined without a pearl - the Kul-Sharif mosque. Khanov's ideas often seemed crazy during his lifetime. So, according to his plan, one of the boulevards in Naberezhnye Chelny should be decorated with fountains with laser lighting and music by Salikh Saydashev. The idea was hacked to the ground. Another project was closed when it became clear that Khanov was secretly building a mosque with a rotating observatory instead of a hotel.
And when the sculptor unauthorizedly placed an abstract sculpture on the edge of the forest, everyone twirled his finger at his temple. According to the author, he chose the place for a reason: a UFO was landing there, which means that there is a special energy. But, except for the artist himself, no one felt anything special at the edge. In Kazan, of all Khanov's works, only the composition "The Shooting of Communists" survived, the rest were destroyed under various pretexts.
Over time, in his homeland, Ildar Mansaveevich became known as an eccentric. Indeed, some of his projects cannot but bring a smile. For example, he planned to start biochemical purification of water in the Volga and to reclaim a sandy island on it, on which to build a cultural center, and in Naberezhnye Chelny to put a "purification gate" - a rainbow on the entire boulevard.
And when Khanov began to knock on the doorsteps of the authorities in order to gain support and find sponsors for the construction of the Temple of All Religions, they looked at him as if he were insane. No one believed that he would be able to achieve his goal.
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As Ildar told, once during meditation Jesus Christ appeared to him and said: “Ildar! You have a barn where cows used to sleep, now there are three shovels and scrap metal. You have to get up at 6 in the morning, measure one meter from your father's old house and start building the Ecumenical Temple. Khanov did just that.
In 1994, a grandiose construction began. It was a truly ambitious plan. “The Ecumenical Temple was not conceived as a place where people of different religions would pray side by side. People have not yet come to monotheism.
The temple is an architectural symbol of all religions, a museum of religions,”the author assured him. Sixteen domes were designed to represent the most widespread religions in the world: Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Confucianism, etc.
Under the arches of this unusual temple, the Khans planned to place a drama and opera theater, an orphanage, nursing homes, an icon painting school, an observatory, a planetarium, an ecological school, a Tatar-Bashkir cultural center, a museum of modern art, a concert hall, a marine school with a swimming pool, an equestrian school and even center for the treatment of drug addiction. Ten acres for such an ambitious task was clearly not enough, and Khanov bought neighboring plots.
I was looking for money everywhere, and people did not skimp. However, there were many who demanded that this "blasphemy" be banned. And today, after the artist's death, there is no consensus about both the temple and its creator. Some admire the breadth of his thoughts, others consider him crazy.
Who was he really - an eccentric or a genius, who gathered on a tiny piece of land a phantasmagoria of churches, mosques, churches, synagogues and pagodas? One thing is certain: Khanov was a man of peace.
Irina PERFILOVA