Bolgar Historical and Archaeological Complex

On the Volga's bank south of Kazan lie the remains of medieval Bolgar, chief city of the Volga-Bolgars from the 7th century and the Golden Horde's first capital in the 13th. Here the Volga-Bolgars formally embraced Islam in 922 CE, an act that still draws Tatar Muslim pilgrims to the site more than a millennium later. A crossroads of Eurasian trade and cultures for eight hundred years, the complex was inscribed by UNESCO as World Heritage in 2014.