Sultan Ezid Temple is a
Yazidi
Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. The ma ...
temple located in
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...
, the capital of
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
.
Architecture
The temple is modeled on the
Lalish temple, the holiest Yazidi temple located in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
and has a single spire and bare-walled exteriors similar to the Lalish temple.
The premises also contain a pyramid-shaped glass building where courses on the
Yazidi religion
Yazidism , alternatively Sharfadin is a monotheistic ethnic religion that has roots in a western Iranic pre-Zoroastrian religion directly derived from the Indo-Iranian tradition. It is followed by the mainly Kurmanji-speaking Yazidis and is ...
and history, as well as
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
and
Kurdish languages
Kurdish (, ) is a language or a group of languages spoken by Kurds in the geo-cultural region of Kurdistan and the Kurdish diaspora. Kurdish constitutes a dialect continuum, belonging to Western Iranian languages in the Indo-European language ...
, are taught.
History
The temple was opened in June 2015 and is named after
Sultan Ezid
Sultan Êzîd (or sometimes Êzî or Siltan Êzîd) is a divine figure in the Yazidi religion. Although many scholars consider his name to be derived from that of the second Umayyad caliph Yazid I, many Yazidis consider him to be a separate figur ...
, one of the holy men of the Yazidi faith. The temple is constructed on land donated by the
Georgian Government in 2009, and the construction project was initiated in 2012 by the House of Yezidis of Georgia and financed by local businessmen.
At the time of its opening in 2015, it was only the second Yazidi temple outside of Iraq.
Yazidis are one of the
ethnic minorities in Georgia, practicing an ancient, monotheistic belief that has similarities to
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
,
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
,
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...
,
Sufism and
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...
along with elements of
sun worship.
Yazidi religion was officially recognized in Georgia only in 2011.
See also
*
Yazidis in Georgia
The Yazidis in Georgia are a part of the Yazidis who fled from the Ottoman Empire due to persecution in the 19th and early 20th centuries and sought refuge in Georgia.
History
The Yazidis in Georgia are among the poorest and most persecuted p ...
*
Quba Mere Diwane
Quba () is a city and the administrative centre of the Quba District of Azerbaijan. The city lies on the north-eastern slopes of Shahdag mountain, at an altitude of 600 metres above sea level, on the right bank of the Kudyal river. It has a po ...
*
List of Yazidi holy places
This is a list of Yazidi temples across the world.
Background
Yazidis are an ethnoreligious group who live predominantly in northern Iraq. Their religion is known as Yazidism.
List
See also
* List of Yazidi saints
* List of Yazidi settlem ...
References
Yazidi holy places
Buildings and structures in Tbilisi
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