2 Tanga Ancient Towns of Russia - Kazan

Kazan's inclusion in the "Ancient Towns of Russia" series reflects its official founding date of 1005, though that figure has been contested — Tatar historians have argued for a considerably earlier settlement, a dispute that carried enough political weight to prompt the Russian federal government to authorize a formal 1000th anniversary celebration in 2005. That celebration, which reshaped significant portions of the Kazan Kremlin at substantial federal expense, was itself a calculated gesture toward Tatarstan during a period of ongoing negotiation over the republic's autonomy agreements with Moscow.