The Great Hassan Church, Rawa'i Shousha and the Caucasus Albanians ... Karabakh architecture and the history of diversity and wealth in the face of war

Karabakh architecture deserves to be described as exceptional. Despite the abundance of architectural heritage and material culture of Azerbaijan, which represents great creativity and accumulation, the ancient Karabakh represented a center of civilization not only for Azerbaijan but for the entire Caucasus region, as its distinctive architecture of important artistic and historical value developed thousands of years ago. The years, what makes it more like an open historical and architectural museum.

The exceptionally favorable natural and geographic conditions of Karabakh were a trigger for early agricultural development, and many ancient settlements were established in the region that eventually turned into large, well-fortified cities connected to many countries of the East and West via caravan routes, while the abundant natural wealth of their lands contributed to the development of many Of construction methods and distinctive architectural forms.

Ancient civilizations

Since ancient times, Karabakh, like the whole regions of the Kura and Araks rivers in the Caucasus, has been a center of civilization and culture, as it preserves a number of caves that contain relics from the Stone Age, and famous monuments from the densely populated ancient settlements in the Bronze and Iron Ages that still remain until now such as Remains of the settlements of Sedli and Goetepe in the Agdam region.

Despite the many wars in the region, the stages of the history of Karabakh still remain in its ancient architecture, and the report of the journalist Rachel Brooks for the magazine "Republic Underground" divides those stages of the era of Caucasian Albania (Aran) from the fourth century BC until the beginning of the century The eighth, which included the lands of Karabakh, and left many basilicas (rectangular churches) in the Karabakh and Lachin regions.

After the adoption of Christianity as the state religion in the fourth century AD, the Albanian rulers supported the independence of the Albanian Apostolic Church, giving great importance to its role in maintaining an independent sovereignty that opposes integration and assimilation within Persia and Byzantium.

In the year 551 AD, the capital of Caucasian Albania was transferred from Kabala (present-day northern Azerbaijan) to Barda (which still maintains its name), and this necessitated the transfer of the country's cultural center to the regions of the right bank of the Kura River, including the lands of Karabakh, in which many basilicas were built. Early medieval times especially in Barda and Lachin.

In the second stage, Karabakh and Caucasian Albania knew a unique Arab history, and the writer describes the Arabs who conquered the region as being tolerant of the Christian population, which allowed the country's inhabitants to preserve their religion, especially those in the mountainous regions and the foothills of the mountains in Karabakh.

The author quotes Arab historians as describing the baths and covered markets for which Barda, the largest city in the Caucasus at that time, was famous, and the sophisticated systems of closed urban pottery water pipes and wells, while historians of the Caucasus Albanians mention the location of a Christian cathedral next to a mosque in Barda.

Hassan the Great Church

But the collapse of the Arab Islamic caliphate and its transformations contributed to the emergence of many provinces and emirates in the Near East, the most important of which is the Albanian Kingdom of Artsakh - Khashin, which was formed in the mountainous part of Karabakh and was part of the Azerbaijani state, and was ruled by the Mehrani Albanian dynasty, and its princes built palaces and defensive buildings And religious.

This era witnessed the construction of large religious buildings and monasteries, which were used at the same time as cemeteries, and the name of the most famous person at that time, the Caucasian Albanian Prince Hasan Jalal Dawla, was associated with the construction of the Gangasar Monastery (1216-1238), which became the throne of Albanian rulers for many centuries.

The largest monastic complex in Azerbaijan dates back to that era, and is located in the village of Funk in the province of Kalkgar, and at the end of the twelfth century, Hassan the Great Church was built in it, while the main church of the complex was built in 1214 by Princess Arzo Khatun, wife of Prince Vakhtang ( Bahram), and its 19-line inscription occupies part of the church's south wall.

Over time, Albanian architecture developed by following the common styles of Eastern Christian architecture, which has features similar to the architecture of neighboring Christian countries.

At the same time, Albanian architecture is characterized by the decorative diversity that allowed for intertwining the decorations of Christian icons, decoration, Islamic engraving and pagan symbols, and this diverse nature can be found in the architecture of Karabakh monuments - Christian and Islamic - alike.

Islamic architecture

Islamic architecture of the eleventh and fourteenth centuries in Karabakh is clearly evident in mausoleums, such as the Barda Mausoleum built in 1322 by the architect Ahmed bin Ayyub al-Hafiz of Nakhichevan (the western region of Azerbaijan bordering Turkey).

There is also a mausoleum of Malik Azdar in a village belonging to the Lachin region, which dates back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and many mausoleums in the villages of Baba and Akhamdalilar in Fozuli region.

And in the Agdam region, a valuable monument from the Ilkhanate era called the Mausoleum of Haji Musaoglu was preserved.

According to the inscriptions, the monument was erected in 1314, and not far from Fuzuli is the Mausoleum of Mir Ali, which dates from the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries.

Thus, the 13th and 14th centuries left many Islamic monuments and mausoleums in Karabakh.

The bridges in Khedivrin indicate the size and quality of the engineering construction in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Thus, the architectural history of Karabakh and the surrounding lands seem to bear both Christian religious monuments and Islamic monuments, including churches, mausoleums, mosques, and traces of civil architecture.

Although the times of the many wars that this region witnessed have eliminated many monuments, especially those that were on the plains, the Christian and Islamic monuments that reached us testify with eloquence and the high level of building culture in this region of Azerbaijan.

Karabakh Khanate

The third stage of the Karabakh architecture is characterized by the great building activity in the eighteenth century. The formation of the Karabakh Khanate (1747 to 1805) opens a new page in the history of architecture in the area in which Shusha became the center of the khans.

The construction of the Shusha Castle began in 1753, and not far from the main gate on the hill the palace and fortress of Banahali Khan, the founder of the Khanate, represented the pinnacle of the urban development of the city.

The residential buildings in Shusha were built in a style characteristic of Karabakh, most of them are two-storey and face the courtyard, with balconies on wooden poles, the residential buildings of the Shusha princes were distinguished, such as the house of the poet Natavan, Hajj Gulular's palace, the houses of Mehmendrov, Ogurlu Bay, Asad Bey, and the house in which he was born Prominent Azerbaijani composer Aziz Hajibeyov, Azerbaijani opera singer Bülbül, and others.

In addition to these monuments, there were dozens of mosques in Shusha in the nineteenth century, the most important of which was a mosque built at the expense of Jovkhar Agha, daughter of Ibrahim Khan, and designed by the famous architect Karbalai Safi Khan. Thus, Shusha, built by Banahali Khan 250 years ago, was the largest monument. For history, culture, urban planning and architecture of Azerbaijan, and an open-air museum, it has been considered a historical and architectural reserve.

This stage also defined a mass resettlement by Russia of Armenians from Anatolia and Persia in the regions of Karabakh, Yerevan and Nakhchivan, and the Russian Tsar decided in a decree of 1836 to abolish the Albanian character of the Gangasar Monastery, and with the support of the Tsarist government, the construction of the Armenian Orthodox and Gregorian churches began.

By the decision of the Tsar, the medieval Albanian Church monuments were destroyed and many inscriptions written in it were replaced. The Armenian Gregorian Church not only absorbed the heritage of Albanian Christianity, but did everything in its power to accommodate the Albanian population and their culture.

Then came the war

The war in Karabakh can be considered the fourth stage, as the war launched by Armenia against Azerbaijan and the subsequent occupation of 20% of the Azerbaijani lands, including most of Karabakh and its neighboring areas from the south and west, became a real disaster for the cultural heritage in general and the various architectural monuments. During this period, hundreds of historical monuments were completely destroyed in these lands, especially those that did not belong to the Armenian culture.

As a result of the military operations in Karabakh, many architectural monuments of Agdam, Agdere, Fuzuli and other regions of Azerbaijan were severely damaged.

The research, conducted by the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences (Armenian), shows that the amount of damage that occurred after the ceasefire was much greater than recorded during the hostilities.

According to the writer, “The monuments of Islamic architecture, which cannot be Armenian, were deliberately destroyed. The historic and architectural reserve of Shusha was particularly severely damaged, where the mosques of Yukhari, Ashagi Jafakhar Agha, Mardinli, Jumah, Satli, Natavan Palace and most of the residential buildings were damaged, in addition to corridors from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which It was associated with the names of prominent figures in the culture of Azerbaijan, as well as tombstones and springs. "

#Khudavang monastery is one of the best testimonies of ancient Caucasian Albania civilization.Built in 9-13th century by wife of Albanian prince Vakhtang in Kalbajar region of # Azerbaijan, this complex is composed of Church of Arzu Khatun, Church of Hasan, basilica and 2 chapels pic.twitter.com/ZrmVLztPQS

- Anar Karimov (@Anar_Karim) November 11, 2020

The author adds, "The same barbaric measures were taken against the antiquities of the Agdam region, such as the Juma Mosque, the nineteenth century Mausoleums of Banakh Khan near Aghdam, the Antiquities Complex in the village of Shahbulaj, and others." Ten, as well as Ulukhan Castle and many other architectural monuments in Kalbjar.

The author says that the "archaeological restoration" works carried out by the Karabakh authorities not only violate international conventions, but also violate modern requirements for the scientific restoration of monuments, as all the works that have been carried out show a gross interference in the architectural appearance that destroys the historical authenticity of the monuments and denies their original identity, due to their lineage. The heritage of Armenians instead of Caucasian Albanians who considered Gangasar a center of Albanian Christianity for many centuries until it was abolished by the Russian Bishops' Council in 1836.