Gabdulla Tukai Museum

Gabdulla Tukai Museum is a literary museum of the famous Tatar poet, located in the historical center of Kazan. The museum occupies one of the most picturesque mansions of the Old Tatar Sloboda, built in the late 19th century.

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Video: Gabdulla Tukai Museum

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Highlights

Gabdulla Tukai is considered the founder of the modern Tatar language and national literature. In the capital of Tatarstan, Tukay worked as a journalist, practiced journalism and lectured at a club. He loved to stroll along the quiet streets of Kazan and relax on the shores of the picturesque Lake Kaban.

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The museum was created in 1986, when Kazan celebrated the centenary of Gabdulla Tukai. The two-story building houses an exposition devoted to the life and work of the poet, and a separate section is devoted to the story of his travels through Russian cities. Photos of the poet, his books, documents, Tukai’s posthumous mask, as well as periodicals of the early 20th century are exhibited in the halls. From memorial exhibits visitors to the Gabdulla Tukai Museum can see silver cufflinks and a wicker basket, which he used on long journeys. There is also a pencil glass, acquired by the poet during a trip to St. Petersburg in 1912. The museum exhibits such rarities as a box with a typographic font from the early 20th century and a globe of Kasimov madrasahs from the second half of the 19th century.

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Of great interest is the section of the Gabdulla Tukai Museum dedicated to the culture and customs of the Old Tatar Sloboda, which existed at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. The most valuable exhibits are considered to be a silk embroidered kitset and the national male headdress – kalyapush, an old copper gramophone, a glass inkwell, a notebook with herbariums and tiny leather baby’s pinnies.

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The Gabdulla Tukai Museum has a club of teachers who teach lessons in Tatar language and literature. In addition, members of the historical and local history club “Dynasty” gather here.