The “Letter Spellcaster” exhibition is dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Mukhitdin Kurbangaliev, one of the developers of the modern Tatar alphabet.

Tatar philologist and teacher, professor, Hero of Labor Mukhitdin Kurbangaliev (1873 – 1941) was one of the most important figures in Tatarstan science and education. In 1895, he graduated from the Kazan teachers’ school and began working as a teacher in rural Tatar schools. Later he taught at various educational institutions and participated in the activities of the famous “Eastern Club”.

During the Soviet years, Professor Kurbangaliev headed the department of Tatar language at Kazan University and collaborated with pedagogical journals. Under Kurbangaliev, the department of the Tatar language was interfaculty and provided teaching of the state Tatar language to students of various specialties.

Textbooks written by Kurbangaliev were published not only in Kazan: his primers have been preserved, republished in Tokyo for the children of Tatar emigrants living in China, Korea and Japan.

In 1939, Kurbangaliev participated in the development of a new Tatar script based on the Cyrillic alphabet. His project became the basis of the modern Tatar alphabet.

The exhibition presents little-known photographs, documents, manuscripts and textbooks of Professor Kurbangaliev.

The exhibition runs until December 19 at the House of Tatar Books.