The Agdam Mosque ( az, Ağdam məscidi) or Juma Mosque ( az, Cümə məscidi) is a mosque in the ghost town of

Aghdam Aghdam ( az, Ağdam) is a ghost town and the nominal capital of the Aghdam District of Azerbaijan. Founded in the 18th century, it was granted city status in 1828 and grew considerably during the Soviet period. Aghdam lies from Stepanakert at ...

, Azerbaijan.

History

Construction

The mosque was built by the architect

Karbalayi Safikhan Karabakhi Karbalayi Safikhan Karabakhi ( az, Kərbəlayı Səfixan Sultanhüseyn oğlu Qarabaği) (c. 1817 - 1910) was an Azerbaijani architect and one of the representatives of Karabakh architecture schools. Buildings by Kerbalai Sefikhan Karabagi included ...

from 1868 to 1870, in the typical style for mosques in the Karabakh region, which included the division of stone columns on the two-story gallery and the use of domed ceilings. Other mosques in this style include Barda Mosque, the Yukhari Govhar Agha Mosque in Shusha, a mosque in the city of Fuzuli and one in the village of Horadiz.

Armenian occupation

During the First Nagorno-Karabakh war, Agdam was used by Azerbaijani forces to fire BM-21 Grad long-range missiles at the Armenian populace of

Stepanakert / az, Xankəndi, italic=no , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = File:StepanakertCollage.jpg , imagesize = 300px , image_caption = From top left: Holy Mother ...

. Aghdam later came under the control of Armenian forces. After the capture, according to eyewitnesses, the city was plundered, destroyed and burned. The Agdam mosque, the only building left standing in Aghdam, has been vandalized with graffiti and used as a stable for cattle and swine. A narrative of "barbarous Armenians who turn mosques into pigsties" would become an important component of mobilization in Azerbaijan in the prelude to the

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict in 2020 that took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, the surrounding territories. It was a major escalation of ...

. In 2009, the Republic of Artsakh began funding measures to preserve Islamic monuments. According to Artsakh officials the surroundings of the Agdam mosque were cleaned from the rubble and fenced in 2010. The RFE/RL journalist Stepan Lohr, who visited Agdam in 2011, posted photos of the mosque with no roof, and what he described as "the neglected and damaged interior of Agdam's once-glorious mosque". File:Aghdam_Azeri_Mosque.jpg, Interior of the mosque in 2000 File:Transkraina71.JPG, Entrance of the mosque in 2013 File:Agdam_Mosque2018-8.jpg,

Mihrab Mihrab ( ar, محراب, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "qibla w ...

of the mosque in 2018 File:Agdam_Mosque2018-15.jpg, General view and surrounding landscape in 2018

After Second Nagorno-Karabakh war

Following Azerbaijan's victory in the Second Nagorno-Karbakah war, it regained the district of Agdam through the

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement is an armistice agreement that ended the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. It was signed on 9November by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and the Pre ...

on 20 November 2020. Three days later, president

Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar oghlu Aliyev ( az, İlham Heydər oğlu Əliyev, ; born 24 December 1961) is the fourth president of Azerbaijan, serving in the post since 31 October 2003. The son and second child of the former Azerbaijani leader Heydar Aliyev, ...

and first lady Mehriban Aliyeva visited the ruins of the city and the Agdam mosque. Aliyev gifted a Quran from Mecca to the mosque. After the ceding of Agdam back to Azerbaijan, the first

Friday prayer In Islam, Friday prayer or Congregational prayer ( ar, صَلَاة ٱلْجُمُعَة, ') is a prayer ('' ṣalāt'') that Muslims hold every Friday, after noon instead of the Zuhr prayer. Muslims ordinarily pray five times each day according ...

in 28 years was held in the mosque by the last imam of the mosque and Azerbaijani soldiers.

References

{{Mosques in Azerbaijan Mosques completed in 1870 19th-century mosques Mosques in Azerbaijan Aghdam District Buildings and structures in Aghdam Karbalayi Safikhan Karabakhi buildings and structures

History

Construction

Armenian occupation

After Second Nagorno-Karabakh war

See also

References