Sights of Bolgar

Around the City

Bolgar Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve

  • 67 Ulitsa Nazarovykh
  • http://www.bolgar.info/

The most famous sight in Bolgar is the Bolgar Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve which was established on the site of the ancient city of Bulgar - the original capital of the mediaeval state known as Volga Bulgaria. The museum-reserve was officially founded in 1969, but even before this the site has been popular with both tourists and Tatar Muslims who consider it a sight of pilgrimage and the spiritual capital of Tatarstan. The total area of the museum-reserve amounts to… Read more »

Bread Museum

  • 3 Ulitsa Kul Gali
  • http://музей-хлеба.рф/
  • 08:00 - 17:00, daily.

A museum dedicated to bread might not sound like the most fascinating of museums, but in fact Bolgar's Bread Museum is a whole complex of exhibits dedicated not just to the food staple but also to Russian and Tatar traditional country life in general. The complex features many pretty reconstructions of buildings including a windmill, a watermill, a village estate house and a blacksmith's (with an actual blacksmith at work). The main museum is located in the large house and consist… Read more »

City Mosque

  • intersection of Ulitsa Kirova and Ulitsa Antona

Although it cannot of course be compared with the brand new and spectacular White Mosque or with the ruins of mosques in the museum-reserve, Bolgar nevertheless has one more mosque which is located in the centre of the city on the intersection of Ulitsa Kirova and Ulitsa Antona. The mosque was built out of white and red bricks and includes a minaret with a turquoise dome. Read more »

Revolutionary Monument

  • intersection of Ulitsa Sheronova and Ulitsa Pionerskaya

Standing on a corner of the intersection of Ulitsa Sheronova and Ulitsa Pionerskaya is a small and typically-Soviet statue known as the Revolutionary Monument. Read more »

St Abraham of Bolgar's Church

  • 144 Ulitsa Likhacheva
  • http://www.bolgar-hram.info/

Bolgar's main Orthodox church is St Abraham of Bolgar's church which is located on the main road into the city. The church dates from the late 19th century and was originally located in the nearby village of Porfirovka, but by 1988 the village had ceased to exist and so the church was moved to its present location. The wooden church has a central dome with four corner domes and two more domes adorn its side altars. A bell tower is built onto the front of the church. The church is… Read more »

White Mosque

  • Ulitsa Kul Gali

Just outside the southern gates of the Museum-Reserve is Bolgar's most spectacular modern sight - the White Mosque. The mosque was officially opened in 2012 and, as its name suggests, is completely white. The mosque's central dome has a diameter of 10 metres and its two side minarets are 46.5 metres tall. Surrounding the mosque is a beautiful arcade of 88 columns and in front of it there is a central fountain. It is just as beautiful inside with elegantly carved arches and a… Read more »