hidden europe 34

Temple of All Religions

by hidden europe

Summary

Ildar Khanov lives in a temple of his own creation. It boasts a splendid array of minarets and domes that recall many of the world’s principal religions. Not quite what you might expect to find in the suburb of a city in the Russian Federation. But this is Russia with a twist, for Ildar Khanov lives in Tatarstan.

Ildar Khanov is a mystic and a healer, an artist and even an architect. He lives on the edge of the city of Kazan (featured in the previous article), where he survives on minimal sleep — no more than four hours a day, he says — and donations from those whom he has healed.

Khanov’s magnum opus, a project on which he has been working for some twenty years, is one of the most extraordinary and eclectic buildings in Russia.

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