USSR – Unique Leather Mosaic of the Tatars

What is of value for you? Taste of ripened-on-a-branch berry? A last model of the smart phone? View of sunsetting rays enveloping stalks of golden wheat? Mother’s unconditional love? House with state-of-the-art appliances? Heart-warming gathering? Memories collected by generations? Expensive watch? Discovery of something novel? Effortless consumption? Effortful unique expertise?

A value depends on many factors, the most powerful of which are the social norms of the times that dictate the preferences. The value is valuable only when it is valued – a wise person said, and when it requires an effort – we add. For us, the precious and valuable is:

–experiencing nature-raised, deliberately-slow-cut-then-grilled lamb meat stripes followed by sacred aşure – a-once-a-year treat meant to be shared in the month of Muharram – in a company of a sweet Turkish family that know how to appreciate time spent together.

–taking time to feel shared joys and pains of immigration, when visiting Kazan Tatar Cultural Home in Eskişehir, Turkiye.

-learning that a shchibureq is a Kirim Tatar specialty. The word comes from Turkic “çi böreq” meaning a deep-fried small pie (böreq) with not-cooked-before-frying (çi) ground beef. The best shchibureq is made in Turkiye’s Eskişehir – the city that has embraced the Tatars (Kazan and Kirim) as well as many other Turkic people, and non-Turkic alike. It carried a torch of a Turkic Capital of Culture in 2013. Kazan, Tatarstan followed the suit a year later, in 2014.

–discovering unprecedentedly-uniquely ornamented shchiteq in a collection of Musee Du Quai Branly Jacque Chirac. A combination of stacked ornamental patterns scattered throughout whole boot canvas has not yet been encountered by our research team before (view other shchiteq discoveries in world museums on Museum Tatar Boots page).

This late 19^th century shchiteq was made from the softest fragrant goat/sheep leather (once called “bulgari”/saffyan) and features visual elements that showcase a deep connection of the Tatars with other Turkic people’s material heritage.

Most importantly, what is of value for our research team, is bringing attention to the current state of the craft of shchiteq-making, a handcraft that had been mastered by the Tatar-Bulgars for ages. Once valuable and profit-making, expertise of shchiteq-making is, now, in hands of a small number of aging masters.

Reported by M.A. Rylov in 1886 on the pages of “Volzhskiy Vestnik” newspaper, estimated 500+ shchiteq-making experts in Kazan metro area (then part of Rossiyan Empire) traded their skills along with 2000+ shchiteq ornamental patterns stitchers. There were more than 10 big factories that processed soft and fragrant leather (bulgari/saffian/yuft) and produced sought-for hand-stitched shchiteqler along with a myriad of independent shchiteq ostazlar (masters) with annual sales grossing over 5 mln. rubles (~107 mln. dollars of 2026). Shchiteqler were sold throughout Asia, Europe and America.

After political upheaval (within the borders of then-Rossiyan Empire) and establishment of USSR (Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics), the profit-making shchiteqler producing businesses, along with other enterprises got nationalised and dwindled due to the lack of demand, competition, etc. Attention to native handicrafts were tried to be channeled in 1920ies by government-established artisan artels with some success through 1930ies. After 1960ies, the efforts of creating state factory to manufacture simplified versions of shchiteqler yielded some results, and for ~35 years they kept a centuries-old unique craft alive. The factory did not to make it through turmoil of USSR collapse, and ceased to exist in 2001. A legacy of Arshcha footwear factory and once-prominent shchiteq-making mastery is now in hands of small privately-owned companies “Sahtian” and “Shchiteq” as well as independent boot-makers. As of 2026 (140 years later of Rylov’s reporting), only 2-5 independent shchiteq-making masters practice their trade, mostly, on “on&off” basis, by requests. “Sahtian” and “Shchiteq” employ few more shchiteq-makers to make a number of shchiteqler to keep a small inventory on the market.

Keeping a tab on the values that are valued is a must! So appreciation of an effortful human involvement – hand-made, heart-felt, brain-created – has a potential for a long run!

Wishing that exceptional skills-set of shchiteq-making is not extinct in 2126 and is valued as much as 250 years prior. So future generations have a chance to experience the warmth of experts’ hands while wearing shchiteqler. So belonging to a manual effortful material centuries-old legacy of exceptional Tatar shchiteqler is even deeper later than it is for us now, in 2026,….. experiencing a historic diversity of shchiteqler behind glass in a museum.

Let us complete the values exploration with quoting kyimәtlәr (“that is what precious” in Tatar language) that generations of Tatar people were instilled through various channels including radio Tәrtip (meaning ~shipshape in English). These values are based on Islamic appreciation of humanity. Most of the words are the borrowings from the Arabic language, but concepts are universal for all Muslims alike (read here about the Tatar’s story and their official acceptance of Islam in early 10th century).

Иман (iman)- faith
Күңел (küngel’) – soul, internal peace/ content/ satisfaction
Акыл (akyl) – intellect
Шөкер (shöker) – gratitude
Әдәп (әdәp) – knowledge of handling oneself kindly and respectfully with others
Сабыр (sabyr) – patience

Tатарчаны монда укый аласыз / Tatar version here

The memorial plaque dedicated to “Serp i Molot” plant and its legendary contributors was placed these days on the last remaining wall of the once-powerful plant. Located in historic Bishbalta (Tatarstan) for over 150 years (1851-2015), the plant supplied heavy machinery, conveyor belts and various tools to support livelihood of Russian Empire, of the USSR, Tatarstan, Russian Federation.

Putting the plaque up is an idea of Garafutdin Minegaziz uly Khisamutdinov, a labor veteran who dedicated over 20 years of his career to the plant. Starting as a locksmith at the age of 17, Garafutdin contributed his skills, excelled, and moved up the ladder to make the plant a success. The collapse of the Soviet Union turned the progressive industrial complex as well as the whole livelihood setup of the USSR upside down.

Many state ventures could not survive the turmoil and, thus, seized to exist. “Serp i Molot” plant’s fate was not an exception. Although the change opened new opportunities for Garafutdin, his heart has been aching for such a powerful establishment with long history to come to an end on his watch. The plaque commemorates the plant’s existence and its contribution to the history of the city. It also pays a tribute to Garafutdin’s youth that was dedicated to “Serp i Molot” full-heartedly!

Garafutdin’s partner and supporter of over 50 years, a mathematician by training and a teacher by trade, Zaituna Gafi kyzy Khisamutdinova took the pressure of caring for the household and three children while Garafutdin served in the leadership positions in the plant and the local district government.

Nowadays, the smile and the spirit, the most persistent attributes of Garafutdin and Zaituna, keep them energized to share and preserve the Tatar heritage and the history of Bishbalta.

A bitter story of “Serp i Molot” plant is not the only one. In one of the used-to-be-industrial-heavy districts of Kazan, Kirovskiy, from mid- 19^th to late 20^th century, there were many large manufacturing and industrial plants supplying various goods to the vast country. Most of them ended their operations in early 21^st century including the ones that were dedicated to leather production using tanning and dressing technologies developed in Volga Bulgaria (predecessor of Kazan Khanate and Tatarstan). At the verge of 19^th and 20^th centuries, the leather manufacturing was the second (after fabric weaving) high-volume-high-profit business in Kazan (“Tatar Industrialist”, S. Belov, 2017, p.5-6). By mid-20^thcentury, only two leather processing and leather goods manufacturing plants operated in Kirovskiy district of Kazan city. Nowadays, the one that produces leather goods ranks 165th out of ~400 in Russian Federation, the leather-processing plant is mostly out of business.

The legacy of famous high quality soft aromatic leather mastered in Volga Bulgaria that once were pride and fame of the Volga Bulgars (now referred as (Volga) Tatars) has been slowly vanishing in history. The leather tanned using the exceptional technology developed by the Volga Bulgars had been referred as bulgari in Middle Ages in Asia, Europe and America (“The Patterned Leather of Kazan”, L. Sattarova, 2004, p. 7-23). The word “bulgari” had been utilized as an umbrella term for the two types of leather: 1) “juft/yut” (either from Persian جفت meaning “pair” or from Bulgarian «ӳт» meaning “leather”), and 2) “safyan/ sahtiyan” (from Persian ساختيا derived from ساخته “saht” meaning “fit/processed/made). Those terms, originally and primarily, had been referred to goat (safyan) and sheep (yut) hides tanned with sumac and willow bark, colored by plants-derived dyes and oiled by birch tar. In 18^th – early 20^th centuries, soft leather with distinctive aroma (acquired during the tanning and oiling with birch tar) that was manufactured using the technologies of the Volga Bulgars got referred as “Russia” leather in American and Western literature (“The Manufacture of Leather”, C.Davis, 1885, p.65-68).

Leather processing is not a profitable business in Kazan anymore. The last leather manufacturing plant in Kirovsky district of Kazan (the successor of various pre-Soviet era profitable leather-tanning establishments of Azmetyev, Yunusovs, Apanayevs, etc.) has been operating on the smallest percentage of its capacity since the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was in-and-out-of-business for the last decade. The hope is on for the famous-aromatic-soft leather bulgari and the exceptionally-decorated-leather-sock-boots shchitekler to gain their momentum again, to be the staple of local economy, and to be a celebration of (Volga Bulgar) Tatar legacy and handiwork.