UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee last month inscribed the astronomical observatories of Kazan Federal University (KFU) in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan to its World Heritage List.
The two buildings in the heart of Tatarstan, which were inscribed as a single property, is the only cultural object from Russia that made the list this year. Earlier, UNESCO decided against awarding the special status to the historic town of Gorokhovets in central Russia.
There are now a total of 31 UNESCO heritage sites in Russia, four of which are located in the Turkic-majority republic.
“The astronomical center established in Kazan occupies a special place in the system of observatories of the world, having become the first easternmost point in the world to conduct the advanced research of the Earth, Space and its exploration and the Universe, which currently is scaled up in the scientific research of Kazan astronomers and represent its continuity,” the site’s nomination document reads.
Here is a closer look at Tatarstan’s unique astronomical observatories:
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