The Republic of Tatarstan has a very rich artistic and cultural heritage. Kazan its capital is a large cultural centre. The cultural life in Kazan, is diverse and many-sided.

Annual festivals present various styles and schools in arts: Opera festival named after F. Shalyapin, R. Nuriyev's festival of classical ballet, K. Tinchurin Theatre festival, Jazz Crossroads festival and the festival of concertina music. Traditionally, the international festival of modern music "Europe-Asia" takes place here as well. Talented singers and ballet dancers come to Kazan from different theatres of Russia and other countries of the world. Our theatres make tour performances to Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Norway, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and many other countries, as well as to the. regions of Russia.

There are 100 state museums of history, literature and arts in Tatarstan. Nowadays the National Museum of Tatarstan (the City Museum) is a historical and cultural complex. The Museum has more than 700 000 items. There are different ethnographic collections, documents of many centuries, handwritten books and papers of famous people. You can see a rich collection of national clothes of the peoples of the Volga region, drawings and photographs of Kazan, postcards, posters, works of local painters and sculptors.

The State Museum of Fine Arts is one of the leading museums in Russia. It has a remarkable collection of paintings, sculptures, graphic art, theatrical design, Russian icons and pieces of applied art. There are about 13 000 works of fine art of native and foreign artists.

Tatarstaners are proud of their long-established cultural and artistic traditions.