Annunciation Cathedral
The decree on restoring the Qolşärif mosque (1995) also ordered the restoration of the Annunciation Cathedral in the Kazan Kremlin which had been taken away from Orthodox Christians after the Russian Revolution. On July 21, 2005, the feast day of the holy icon "Theotokos of Kazan", in the presence of the crowd of 10,000 pilgrims, Patriarch Alexius II and Mintimer Shaeymiev placed at the newly restored Annunciation Cathedral the holiest copy of the long-lost icon, which had been returned to Russia in 2004 by Pope John Paul II shortly before his death.