In the 18th century, the city became an educational and cultural center of the Volga region and it received the status of a major research center in the 19th century.
In 2005, local residents celebrated the city's 1,000th anniversary in an impressive setting. The Kazan metro, the Millennium Bridge and some other facilities were built in the run-up to the event.
In 2013, Kazan hosted the Summer Universiade, the largest in terms of participants and the number of sports awards. In all, 11,759 athletes from 162 countries attending the event vied for 351 sets of medals in 27 different sports.