Blue Mosque (Yerevan)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Blue Mosque
Կապույտ մզկիթ
Kapujt mskit
place 12 Mashtots Avenue , Yerevan , Armenia
Laying of the foundation stone 1765
opening 1766
Direction / grouping Islam , Twelve Shia
imam no permanent imam; comes from Iran on Islamic holidays
Architectural information
Details
Property 7000 m²
Couple 1 main dome, 2 secondary domes
Dome height 20 m
minaret 1
Minaret height 24 m

The Blue Mosque ( Armenian Կապույտ մզկիթ Kapujt mskit , Russian Голубая мечеть Golubaja Metschet , Azerbaijani Göy məscid , Persian مسجد کبود Masjed-e Kabud ) is a Shiite mosque in Yerevan built in the mid-18th century. It is the only mosque in Armenia currently in use.

description

The building complex of the mosque occupies an area of ​​7000 m². The mosque consists of a large prayer hall, a library and a madrasa with 28 rooms arranged around an inner courtyard. The mosque has a 24 meter high brick minaret . There is no sure evidence that there were more minarets in the past.

history

The area around Yerevan had been under the rule of various Muslim rulers since the incursions of Timur in the 14th century and was in Persian possession from the 16th century until the end of the Russo-Persian War in 1828.

The construction of the mosque was commissioned in 1765 under Karim Khan , successor to Nadir Shah , by Hussein Ali Khan , the governor of the Yerevan Khanate , and it was completed in 1766. When it was captured by the Russians in 1827, it was the most important of the eight mosques in Yerevan.

In 1931, the Soviet government closed the mosque and set up the Yerevan City Museum here .

As a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict , almost all Muslims left Armenia between 1988 and 1991, just as almost all Armenians - mostly members of the Armenian Apostolic Church - had to leave Azerbaijan . The great majority of these Muslim refugees were Shiite Azeris and found a new home in Azerbaijan. The Blue Mosque is perceived by Armenians today as a Persian mosque, as it was built under Persian rule and "Azerbaijanis" as a name for the Turkic-speaking Shiite inhabitants of Persia was not yet common before the 20th century. According to Thomas de Waal , the term “Persian Mosque” also hides the fact that most of the visitors to this church were once Azerbaijanis.  

Although the number of Muslims had decreased massively, the mosque was revived after Armenia gained independence. The Iranian government acquired the building in 1995 and had it converted back into a Shiite mosque, which opened in 1999. Since then, the mosque has been used mainly by foreign Muslims, mostly Iranians who work in Armenia or come as tourists. The Yerevan City Museum moved into a new building.

Picture gallery

  • dome

  • The Blue Mosque 2014

  • Minaret, 2014

  • inside view

  • Mihrab

  • Wall decoration

  • The Abbas Mirza Mosque, another historical mosque in Yerevan, 19th century

literature

  • Tsypylma Darieva: Prayer house or cultural center? Restoring a mosque in post-socialist Armenia. In: Central Asian Survey , 2016, pp. 1–17
  • Brady Kiesling: Rediscovering Armenia . Matit, Yerevan 2000, p. 10 ff. ( Download pdf ).
  • Вараздат Мартиросович Арутюнян, Мурад Маргарович Астратян, Арсен Арутушевич Меликян: Ереван . Стройздат, Москва 1968.
  • Markus Ritter : Mosques and Madrasa buildings. Iran 1785–1848 - Architecture between Recourse and Innovation . Brill, Leiden 2006. pp. 363-367, ISBN 9004144811 .
  • George Bournoutian: The Khanate of Erevan Under Qajar Rule, 1795-1828 . Mazda Publishers, Costa Mesa (CA) 1992. ISBN 9780939214181 .
  • Hrant A. Hovhannessian: The Museums of Yerevan . Hayastan Publishing, Yerevan 1986.

Web links

Commons : Blue Mosque (Yerevan)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 40 ° 10 ′ 41.2 ″  N , 44 ° 30 ′ 20.2 ″  E

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rouben Galichian: The Invention of History: Azerbaijan, Armenia and the Showcasing of Imagination. Gomitas Institute, London; Printinfo Art Books, Yerevan 2010, p. 66
  2. ↑ Thomas de Waal: Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War . Combined Academic Publishers, New York / London 2003, ISBN 978-0-8147-1945-9 , pp. 80 .