Blue Mosque, Yerevan
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The Blue Mosque is an 18th-century
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...
mosque in
Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...
,
Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...
. It was commissioned by Huseyn Ali Khan, the khan of the
Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...
Erivan Khanate The Erivan Khanate ( fa, خانات ایروان, translit=Xānāt-e Iravān; hy, Երեւանի խանութիւն, translit=Yerevani xanut'iwn; az, ایروان خانلیغی, translit=İrəvan xanlığı), also known as Chokhur-e Sa'd, was ...
. It is one of the oldest extant structures in central Yerevan and the most significant structure from the city's Iranian period. It was the largest of the eight mosques of Yerevan in the 19th century and is today the only active mosque in Armenia. The mosque was secularized in the 1920s and housed the History Museum of Yerevan for more than five decades. Following Armenia's independence, the mosque was renovated with the support from the Iranian government and again started operating as a mosque, serving the Muslims residing in Armenia.


Names

Western visitors in the Russian period, such as H. F. B. Lynch and
Luigi Villari Luigi Villari (1876–1959), son of Pasquale Villari Pasquale Villari (3 October 1827 – 11 December 1917) was an Italian historian and politician. Early life and publications Villari was born in Naples and took part in the risings of 1848 ther ...
, referred to the mosque as Gök Jami (Gok Djami, tr, Gök Cami), which translates from Turkish as "
sky blue Sky blue is a shade of light blue comparable to that of a clear daytime sky. The term (as "sky blew") is attested from 1681. A 1585 translation of Nicolas de Nicolay's 1576 ''Les navigations, peregrinations et voyages faicts en la Turquie'' i ...
mosque". It is known as Կապույտ մզկիթ, ''Kapuyt mzkit’'' "Blue Mosque" in Armenian, although Գյոյ մզկիթ, ''Gyoy mzkit՛'' is sometimes used as well. It is known in Persian as ''Masjid-i Juma'' or ''Jami-i Shahr''.


History


Early history

The mosque was built in 1765–1766 ( AH 1179) by Hussein (Hoseyn) Ali Khan, the ruler of the
Erivan Khanate The Erivan Khanate ( fa, خانات ایروان, translit=Xānāt-e Iravān; hy, Երեւանի խանութիւն, translit=Yerevani xanut'iwn; az, ایروان خانلیغی, translit=İrəvan xanlığı), also known as Chokhur-e Sa'd, was ...
under the
Afsharid dynasty The Afsharid dynasty ( fa, افشاریان) was an Iranian dynasty founded by Nader Shah () of the Qirqlu clan of the Turkoman Afshar tribe Afshar ( az, Əfşar افشار; tr, Avşar, ''Afşar''; tk, Owşar; fa, اَفشار, Āfshār) ...
of Persia, as the city's main
Friday mosque A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''jumu'ah''.* * * * * * * ...
. The mosque underwent substantial redecoration with
tile Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or o ...
s around 1887-88 (AH 1305), under Russian administration. The mosque underwent another reconstruction in 1907–1910. The mosque was the largest of the eight mosques operating in Yerevan when the Russians captured it in 1827. H. F. B. Lynch, who visited Erivan in 1890s, wrote: "There is nothing very remarkable in the architecture of the mosque; but the floral paintings which adorn the ceiling of a companion and smaller edifice on the north side of the court are of very high merit."
Luigi Villari Luigi Villari (1876–1959), son of Pasquale Villari Pasquale Villari (3 October 1827 – 11 December 1917) was an Italian historian and politician. Early life and publications Villari was born in Naples and took part in the risings of 1848 ther ...
, an Italian diplomat and historian, gave a detailed description of the mosque in his 1906 book titled ''Fire and Sword in the Caucasus''. He wrote that the "great mosque called the Gok Djami ..is a good deal more than a mosque; it is a long quadrangle containing several places of worship and a number of cells, schools, and offices of the Moslem religious administration. It is not very ancient ..but it is handsome." The ''
Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...
'' (1911) described the mosque as the "finest building in the city." The minaret of the mosque, standing at was the tallest structure in 19th century Yerevan.


Soviet period

The mosque was
secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
ized after Soviet rule was established in Armenia. The mosque's entrances and exits were modified significantly. The main gate, on the southern side, to the right of the minaret was blocked. The western gate was "incorporated into a residence complex and became hardly recognizable as an entrance." The entrance on the northern side became the only entrance. It is accessible and visible from
Mashtots Avenue Mashtots Avenue ( hy, Մաշտոցի Պողոտա ''Mashtots'i Poghota''), known as Lenin Avenue until 1990, is an avenue in the central Kentron district of Yerevan, Armenia. The avenue starts with the Victory Bridge at the south and ends up wit ...
. Beginning with
Alexander Tamanian Alexander Tamanian (, March 4, 1878 – February 20, 1936) was a Russian-born Armenian neoclassical architect, well known for his work in the city of Yerevan. Life and work Tamanian was born in the city of Yekaterinodar in 1878 in the family ...
's 1924 master plan for Yerevan, the mosque has been situated more than two meters below the street level, which requires visitors to descend a flight of steps. The mosque ceased to operate as a religious institution in the mid-1920s. Its courtyard became a "creative space for Armenian artists, writers, poets, and intelligentsia, facilitating the production of a new cultural and aesthetic order for socialist Armenia. The courtyard was protected by large
elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North ...
and
plane Plane(s) most often refers to: * Aero- or airplane, a powered, fixed-wing aircraft * Plane (geometry), a flat, 2-dimensional surface Plane or planes may also refer to: Biology * Plane (tree) or ''Platanus'', wetland native plant * ''Planes' ...
trees, and in this way provided the hot and dusty city with a shaded refuge." The courtyard housed a
teahouse A teahouse (mainly Asia) or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment whi ...
, which became a hub for intellectual gatherings.
Yeghishe Charents Yeghishe Charents (; March 13, 1897 – November 27, 1937) was an Armenian poet, writer and public activist. Charents' literary subject matter ranged from his experiences in the First World War, socialist revolution, and frequently Armenia an ...
,
Martiros Saryan Martiros Saryan ( hy, Մարտիրոս Սարյան; russian: Мартиро́с Сарья́н; – 5 May 1972) was a Soviet Armenian painter, the founder of a modern Armenian national school of painting. Biography He was born into an Armenia ...
, Aksel Bakunts were among its regular visitors. Foreign guests included Armenian-American writer
William Saroyan William Saroyan (; August 31, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film ''T ...
, Russian Jewish poet
Osip Mandelstam Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam ( rus, Осип Эмильевич Мандельштам, p=ˈosʲɪp ɨˈmʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mənʲdʲɪlʲˈʂtam; – 27 December 1938) was a Russian and Soviet poet. He was one of the foremost members of the A ...
, Russian novelist
Andrei Bely Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev ( rus, Бори́с Никола́евич Буга́ев, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ bʊˈɡajɪf, a=Boris Nikolayevich Bugayev.ru.vorb.oga), better known by the pen name Andrei Bely or Biely ( rus, Андр ...
and others. Local artists used the "courtyard for exhibitions and as a laboratory for new socialist spirituality." Seyed Hossein Tabatabai, Adviser of the Cultural Center of the Iranian Embassy in Armenia, noted that the mosque was "preserved by the efforts of a number of Armenian intellectuals," especially Charents. In the 1930s first the Anti-Religious Museum and subsequently the Museum of
Antifascism Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers wer ...
were housed at the mosque. From 1936 until the collapse of the Soviet Union, the mosque housed the Museum of Natural Sciences, which included a planetarium inside the main prayer hall and the
Yerevan History Museum The Yerevan History Museum ( hy, Երևանի Պատմության Թանգարան (''Yerevani Patmut'yan T'angaran'')) is the history museum of Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia. The museum was founded in 1931 as the Communal Museum. Current ...
.


Independence period

In the late 1980s, during the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians, and seven surrounding districts, inhabited mostly by Azerbaij ...
, the mosque did not sustain any damages because it was considered to be Persian, not Azerbaijani, and housed the city's history museum. In February 1991 a preliminary agreement was reached between the city's authorities and an Iranian delegation to restore the mosque. The mosque underwent major renovation between 1994 and 1998. The city's authorities officially transferred the right to use the mosque to Iran on October 13, 1995. The government of Iran allocated some 1 billion Iranian rials (over $1 million) for restoration works. The mosque was re-opened as a religious institution in 1996.
Brady Kiesling John Brady Kiesling is a former U.S. diplomat and the author of ''Diplomacy Lessons: Realism for an Unloved Superpower'' (Potomac Books, 2006) and the ToposText classics/archaeology mobile application. Diplomat An archaeologist/ancient historian ...
described the restoration as "structurally necessary but aesthetically ambiguous." Another reconstruction was done between 2009 and 2011.


Today

The Blue Mosque is the only active mosque in Armenia, which has a small Muslim population (between 812 and 1,000 or 0.03% of the total population). Since restoration, it has become a religious and cultural center for the Iranians residing in Armenia and Iranian tourists visiting Armenia. In 2003 the journalist
Thomas de Waal Thomas Patrick Lowndes de Waal (born 1966) is a British journalist and writer on the Caucasus. He is a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe. He is best known for his 2003 book '' Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War''. Lif ...
noted that the only regular worshippers at the mosque were "the dozen or so diplomats from the Iranian Embassy." Less than a decade later, in 2009, ''
ArmeniaNow ''ArmeniaNow'' was an independent online news publication based in Yerevan, Armenia. It was published in English and Armenian. The publication was founded in July 2002 and published its last issue in June 2016. It was recognized as one of the p ...
'' wrote that of the up to 2,000 Iranians residing in Yerevan as many as 500 periodically attend the mosque on Thursdays. The Iranian cultural center inside the mosque complex attracts young Armenians seeking to learn
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
. The Persian library of over 8,000 items, named after the poet
Hafez Khwāje Shams-od-Dīn Moḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī ( fa, خواجه شمس‌‌الدین محمّد حافظ شیرازی), known by his pen name Hafez (, ''Ḥāfeẓ'', 'the memorizer; the (safe) keeper'; 1325–1390) and as "Hafiz", ...
, was opened inside the complex in October 2014. On December 10, 2015 the government of Armenia leased the mosque complex to the embassy of Iran to Armenia for 99 years to use it as a cultural center.


Architecture

The mosque is listed by the Armenian government as a monument of national significance. It is "one of the oldest buildings in central Yerevan" and the "only extant building of the Iranian period in Yerevan." The historian of Islamic art Markus Ritter described it as the "main model for the early Qajar mosque architecture of the Iranian period." The mosque complex covers an area of . The mosque itself is , while the courtyard is . The mosque contains the traditional
Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...
attributes, including a minaret, three mihrabs (prayer halls), holy inscriptions, etc. The mosque includes 24 arched cells that face the pool in the middle of the courtyard, which is surrounded by a rose garden. The minaret, standing at tall, has a 7-degree slope, but is considered to be architecturally safe.


Efforts to list as a World Heritage Site

In October 2007 Armenian Foreign Affairs Minister
Vartan Oskanian Vartan Minasi Oskanian ( hy, Վարդան Մինասի Օսկանյան; born February 7, 1954) is the former Foreign Minister of Armenia (1998–2008) and founder of the Civilitas Foundation. Early life and career Born into a wealthy Armenian ...
stated during his speech at the 34th session of the
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
General Conference in Paris that the Blue Mosque and other sites are on the waiting list for inclusion in the
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
. In January 2013 Armenian Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan stated that Armenia will take all possible steps for inclusion of the mosque in the list. She reaffirmed this position in a meeting with Iranian Culture Minister Mohammad Hosseini in April 2013. Hosseini stated that he hoped Armenian efforts would succeed. Armenia's Foreign Affairs Minister
Eduard Nalbandyan Eduard Aghvani Nalbandian ( hy, Էդվարդ Աղվանի Նալբանդյան; born July 16, 1956) is an Armenian diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia from April 2008 to May 2018. Biography Edward Nalbandian was born i ...
, in his speech at the 38th session of UNESCO General Conference in November 2015: On October 15, 2015 Armenian Prime Minister
Hovik Abrahamyan Hovik Argami Abrahamyan (; born 24 January 1959), also known by the nickname Muk ( hy, Մուկ), is an Armenian politician, former member of the ruling Republican Party, he was the Prime Minister of Armenia from 13 April 2014 to 8 September 20 ...
and First Vice President of Iran
Eshaq Jahangiri Eshaq Jahangiri Kouhshahi ( fa, ‌اسحاق جهانگیری کوهشاهی, ; born 21 January 1958) is an Iranian politician who served as the sixth first vice president from 2013 until 2021 in Hassan Rouhani's government. Jahangiri was the ...
attended an event dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the mosque. Abrahamyan stated in his speech that both Armenia and Iran "are now making efforts to have it put on the UNESCO World Heritage list." At a 2022 forum, Armenian prime minister
Nikol Pashinyan Nikol Vovayi Pashinyan ( hy, Նիկոլ Վովայի Փաշինյան, ; born 1 June 1975) is an Armenian politician serving as the prime minister of Armenia since 8 May 2018. A journalist by profession, Pashinyan founded his own newspaper in ...
stated: "We have great respect for Islamic civilization and religion, and one of the clearest proofs of this is the Blue Mosque in the center of Yerevan, which, by the way, was restored during the period of Armenia’s independence."


Controversy

Multiple Western and Armenian sources describe the mosque as Iranian/Persian. The anthropologist and ethnographer Tsypylma Darieva notes that "in local media and in official discourses, the Blue Mosque has been strongly associated with the new expatriate political body symbolizing the recent Armenian–Iranian friendship. This dominant reading of the place defines the Blue Mosque exclusively as the ‘Persian Mosque’." Darieva notes that it served as a
Friday mosque A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''jumu'ah''.* * * * * * * ...
for the Muslim population in Yerevan until the mid 1920s In Azerbaijan, the mosque is usually referred to as a monument of Azerbaijani heritage of Yerevan. One government official called it "the largest religious center of Azerbaijanis living in Yerevan." A 2007 book titled ''War against Azerbaijan: Targeting Cultural Heritage'', published by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan ( az, Azərbaycan Respublikasının Xarici İşlər Nazirliyi) is a Cabinet-level governmental agency in Azerbaijan Republic in charge of conducting and designing Azerbaijani Foreign policy. History The ...
and the
Heydar Aliyev Foundation The Heydar Aliyev Foundation ( az, Heydər Əliyev Fondu) is a charitable foundation headed by Azerbaijan's First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva. The foundation is named after Azerbaijan's former president, Heydar Aliyev – the father of the incumbent pr ...
, objected to the restoration of the mosque in the 1990s and to its "presentation as a Persian mosque." The independent Armenian scholar
Rouben Galichian Rouben Galichian ( hy, Ռուբեն Գալչյան) (born 1938, Tabriz) is an independent London-based scholar and researcher specializing in historical maps of Armenia and the South Caucasus region. Rouben Galichian has published many books and ...
argues in his 2009 book ''Invention of History'':


Visit of Azerbaijani MPs

In February 2022 two Azerbaijani pro-government MPs, Tahir Mirkişili and Soltan Məmmədov, attending a
Euronest Parliamentary Assembly The Euronest Parliamentary Assembly is the inter-parliamentary forum in which members of the European Parliament and the national parliaments of Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia participate and forge closer political and economic ...
meeting in Yerevan, visited the mosque. Mirkişili wrote that "Although there are inscriptions related to another state on its walls, its architecture, walls, and spirit as a whole are affiliated with Azerbaijan. We believe that its true owners will soon be able to offer their prayers in the mosque." The Iranian embassy in Armenia responded by calling the mosque a "symbol of Iranian art" and noting that "centuries-old Persian epigraphy has been preserved" on its walls. Mahmoud Movahedifar, an Iranian clergyman serving at the mosque, stated that it has distinctive features of Iran's traditional Islamic architecture and that all inscriptions are in Persian. Movahedifar added, "Even if there was a single tile here with an Azerbaijani inscription we would recognize that fact."


See also

*
Islam in Armenia Islam began to make inroads into the Armenian Plateau during the seventh century. Arabs, Arab, and later Kurds, Kurdish, tribes began to settle in Armenia following the first Arab conquest of Armenia, Arab invasions and played a considerable role ...
* Iranian Armenia (1502-1828) * Abbas Mirza Mosque, Yerevan


References

;Notes ;Citations


Bibliography

* * * * *
About the Blue Mosque
{{Yerevan landmarks Religious buildings and structures completed in 1766 Shia mosques in Armenia Buildings and structures in Yerevan Tourist attractions in Yerevan 18th-century mosques Persian-Caucasian architecture Armenia–Iran relations Closed mosques in the Soviet Union 1760s establishments in Iran