Tajiev Igor Ibragimovich 24.04.1947 – 22.08.2016
Tajiev Igor (Ilyas) Ibragimovich was born in the city of Almaty in 1947. His farther, Tajiev Ibrahim Tajievich, was the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Kazakhstan and his mother Tajieva Leocadia Iosifovna was a housewife who instilled family values in the raising of her three children.
In 1950, the family moved to Moscow, where Igor Ibragimovich grew up and lived most of his life. He had a sister and a brother. His elder sister Loita was the first to enter the Moscow Architectural Institute and she introduced the world of architecture to her brothers.
Thus, in 1965, after graduating from Moscow’s secondary school No. 234, Igor Tajiev entered the Faculty of Architecture at the Kazakh Polytechnic Institute. After three years of studies, he joined The Soviet Armed Forces. In 1970, he decided to finish his professional education and applied to the evening faculty of the Moscow Architectural Institute. Combining study and work at the Institute “Mosproekt 2”, he designed the “Moscovskiy” department store on Komsomolskaya Square.
Very soon Igor Tajiev became the head architect in the Institute “GIPROTEATR”. His architectural projects include: “The Dramatic Theater in Andijan”, “The Theater of Rozovsky in Moscow”, “The Circus in Nizhny Novgorod”, “Moscow Art Theater by Chekhov in the Kommergerskiy Lane”.
The next step of his career was a work for the Institute “Mosproekt 4”, which was a workshop dealing with medical facilities. Igor Tajiev was a head architect for such projects as the “Main Traumatology Hospital” in Ulan-Bator (Mongolia) and a hospital on Bolshaya Pirogovskaya Street in Moscow.
In 1992, Igor Tajiev was invited to design a mosque in Nizhegorodskij region. Since then architecture became a way for him to explore various religions and his next project became Memorial Mosque on the Poklonnaya Hill.
In 1998, Igor Tajiev opened up his own architectural office “An Architectural Studio by I.I. Tajiev”, which was later renamed as “An Architectural Bureau 2002”. The projects of this period include:
1990 – the beginning of the construction of the Islamic complex close to the village of Medyan, Sergachskiy area in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Later, the whole architectural complex received the general name “Medina”, which includes two buildings: the mosque “Rashida” and 25 meters long obelisk “Ya Shin”.
1995 – Mosque “Rashid”, Medyana village in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
1996 г – Memorial mosque “On the Poklonnaya Hill”, Moscow, Minskaya street.
1998 – “The memorial of Memory”, Semenovka village in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
1999 – A faience factory “Santek” in Cheboksary.
2000 – An entertainment centre “Vysotka” in Moscow, Kudrinskaya square N1.
2002 – A Mosque in the city of Sergiev Posad in the Moscow Region.
2003 – A Mosque in the city of Shali in the Chechen Republic;
2004 – A Medical centre in Medyana village in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
2004-2009 – An Orthodox Temple of Venerable Sergius of Radonezh on Ryazanka in Moscow, Okskaya Street N13.
2005-2009 – A Moscow Cathedral Mosque on Vypolzov street N7.
2007-2009 – A Mosque in the city of Kaliningrad.
2006-2016 – An Orthodox Church of Alexius of Rome on Rublyovskiy highway N 54.
Along with his architectural projects, Igor Tajiev was also painted with watercolours, drew graphics and hand-carved wooden sculptures. The collection of his architectural drawings and artworks are in the archives and in private collections of London and Stockholm.
Igor Ibragimovich died in August 2016 having suffered from severe depression. Today his numerous architectural projects including temples and mosques, the number and range of which is really impressive and these serve as a reminder that Igor Tajiev was, is, and will be a supremely talented and successful Russia’s architect and artist.