Mardjani Foundation
The Foundation is named in honor of the famous Tatar theologian, philosopher, historian, religious reformer and educator Shigabutdin Mardjani (January 16, 1818 – April 18, 1889). Being a pan-Muslim thinker, he addressed social problems and matters related to the renewal of Muslims’ spiritual life in contemporary society. As an ethnographer and orientalist, he created a theory of the historical development of the peoples of Kazan and the entire Volga-Ural region, was the first Tatar historian who addressed the problem of the ethnogenesis of the Tatar people and demonstrated the continuity between the cultures of Volga Bulgaria and the Kazan Khanate, scientifically substantiating the origin of the Tatars from the Volga Bulgars.
His research was recognized not only by the Muslim community, but also by Russian and European science. The combination of interest in Islam, education and renewal of society, as well as the development of cultural heritage through science in the activities of Sh. Mardjani made his personality a universal symbol of cultural progress for the Tatars and for Russian Muslims in general. The mosque where he served, streets in different localities, the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan, schools and kindergartens are named after Mardjani in Tatarstan. The Mardjani Foundation is the only institution bearing this name in Moscow.
The Foundation's collection includes a sculptural portrait of Sh. Mardjani, made of plaster by the famous Tatar master Baki Urmanche in 1968. By order of the Foundation, Kazan artist Ramin Nafikov made a copy of this portrait from white marble. The difficult work took two years, but the copy turned out excellent. Initially the sculpture was intended for the yard of the M. Rudomino All Russia State Library for Foreign Literature in Moscow. But in the process of work, we received information that a monument to Mardjani was planned to be erected on the Mardjani street in Kazan. We handed over the completed sculpture to the city of Kazan. In 2018, the monument to Mardjani was erected in the most suitable place for him - in the Old Tatar Sloboda, on Mardjani Street, near the mosque where he served.