Upper Gowhar Agha Mosque
Upper Gowhar Agha Mosque ( Azerbaijani Yuxarı Gövhər Ağa Məscidi ) is an 18th-century Shiite mosque in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan . It is located in Shusha and was used by Azerbaijanis until the city was occupied by Armenian troops in May 1992 .
History of origin
The mosque in the former Yusif Vəzir Çəmənzəminli Street (once the main avenue of the city) is located in the upper part of Şuşa and is distinguished by this name from another place of worship, which is also called Gowhar Agha, but which is in the lower part of the city. Both mosques are considered to be the most important symbols of Shusha's Azerbaijani identity. According to the historian Mirsa Jamal Karabagi (1773-1853), the construction of the mosque was commissioned in 1768 by Ibrahim Khalil Khan, the Azerbaijani-Turkish ruler of the Karabakh Khanate . However, after the foundation stone was laid, construction work could not be continued. The mosque, named after the daughter of Ibrahim Khalil Khan, was only completed between 1883 and 1885 by the architect Karbalaji Safi-Chan Karabagi.
architecture
The architectural design of the Gowhar Agha Mosque is essentially reminiscent of the building tradition of all Shiite churches in Karabakh (such as the mosque in Ağdam, Füzuli or Horadiz), which were built according to Safi-Chan’s designs. The three-aisled prayer hall with an area of 18.5 by 19 meters is square and is separated by 6 stone pillars. The three-beam veranda in the northern part, on the other hand, has a rectangular shape. The veranda is completed by two minarets made of bricks and cylindrical in shape. The balconies of the minarets once served as a prayer room for women. The portico with three identical arches rises along the height of the two-story building. A decorative band with verses from the Koran extends over these arches .
present
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After the occupation of Shusha by Armenian troops and the expulsion of the Azerbaijani residents, the Gowhar Agha Mosque ceased operations. Until 2007 it was in a half-destroyed state. After minor repairs in 2008–2009, the officials of the internationally unrecognized “ Republic of Nagorno Karabakh ” commissioned the Iranian architects in December 2016 to carry out the restoration work. These ended in October 2019. In Azerbaijan, this step met with heavy criticism. There the action of the Armenian side was described as an act of "vandalism" and an attempt to either remove the cultural and religious monuments of the Azerbaijanis in Nagorno-Karabakh or to "persist" them under the pretext of restoration. In an interview with Eurasianet, Artak Grogorjan, a representative of the local Ministry of Culture, stressed that the decision to designate the mosque as Persian after the restoration had been made by Iranian architects.
Literature and individual references
- ↑ Zaur Shiriyev: A Listening Tour of the Azerbaijani Frontlines. In: International Crisis Group / Europe & Central Asia. September 17, 2019, accessed on May 9, 2020 .
- ↑ Nikolas K. Gvosdev: Imperial policies and perspectives towards Georgia, 1760-1819 . St. Martin's Press in association with St. Antony's College, Oxford 2000, ISBN 978-0-312-22990-0 , pp. 68 .
- ↑ M. Th. Houtsma / E. van Donzel: EJ Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam 1913-1936 . Brill, Leiden, Netherlands 1993, ISBN 978-90-04-09790-2 , pp. 727 .
- ↑ Эпиграфические памятники Карабаха. In: "Irs" magazine No. 2–3 (14–15). 2005, Retrieved May 9, 2020 (Russian).
- ↑ Эльтуран Авалов: Архитектура города Шуши и проблемы сохранения его исторического облика . Баку 1977, p. 55 .
- ↑ Solemn event dedicated to the completion of Gohar Agha Upper Mosque's restoration took place in Shushi. October 14, 2019, accessed on May 9, 2020 .
- ↑ Повреждение армянами "Верхней мечети Гёвхар-ага" под предлогом. October 7, 2019, accessed May 9, 2020 (Russian).
- ↑ Joshua Kucera: Karabakh's contentious mosque restoration. In: Eurasianet.org. December 4, 2019, accessed May 9, 2020 .