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Kazan’ city (Tatarstan, Russia)

g. Kazanh

Last modified: 2021-07-24 by valentin poposki
Keywords: kazan |
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г. Казань / ş. Qazan / ш. Казан | ŝ. Kazan

Kazan’ city Flag image by Mikhail Revnivtsev, 13 February 2005
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About the flag

City of Kazan, capital of Republic of Tatarstan in Russian Federation, adopted 24 Nov 2004 (decision number 37-21) a municipal flag. Att. w:v=4:1.
Mikhail Revnivtsev, 13 February 2005

Quoting Jiri Louda’s European Civic Coats of Arms [lou66]:

Kazan was founded on the site of the old village Bolgary settled by Tartar Bulgarians. Built in the 13th century in the reign of the Khan Sayan, the new town became the chief town of a khanate and has been the capital of the Tartar Republic since 1920. As early as the late 16th century, Kazan bore a basilisk (or dragon) on its seal, a device which was approved for the town arms in 1781.
According to Victor Louis’ The Complete Guide to the Soviet Union, the coat of arms of Kazan is «argent a black dragon with red wings under the golden crown of Kazan»; approved 1730. — Louis tells a long story about the origins of Kazan, wherein the site originally was infested with snakes.
Jarig Bakker, 13 February 2005

On further research, "basilisk" is wrong; that is a wyvern with a dragon’s head at the end of its tail; this is a wyvern, a 2-legged dragon.
Albert Kirsch, 14 February 2005

In the official description in Regulations about a flag he refers to as dragon (in Russian — Змеи). The original name in the Kazan-Tatar mythology is Zilant. It has been represented on so-called Flag of Caesar of Tatars in Carlus Alyard’s book of flags [ala94] at the end of 17 centuries — at begin of 18 c.
Mikhail Revnivtsev, 14 and 13 February 2005

This one shown is a true heraldic dragon: four feet, two wings.
Albert Kirsch, 14 February 2005