Ege Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Ya~.,,._ . ~ı/:t,-~!J·(":";.-ı.:!J."'"'i~W-.1'~-

Tarih Incelemeleri•

~- t· t .·. 1.:.·: Dergisi ;:. VII

EGE ÜNİVERSİTESİ BASIMEVİ ~ORNOVA-İZMİR 1992 RELIGIONS BUILDINGS OF APSHERON

Sh.S.FATULLAYEV•

A sman terrıtory of Apsheron near is rich wlth monuments of defence architecture, civil, memorial and -religtons buildings. Monuments of archltecture of the XII and early XX centurtes can be met everywhere, on the terrJtory of histartcal villages and surraunding places.

These bulldl~gs organically are an integral part of the general archıtectural-plannlng structure of histartcal villages and the system of Apsheron settlements. Same monuments are included in the_system of the buildıng as local sectıons of the general process of the development of Apsheron architecture, the others as active and dominant which determine the architectural-planning peculiarttles of bulldings of dtfferent perlods with their stylisUc direcUons. Erectlons of defence archltecture ant social buildings becoeme the· main buildings determining the subject-spactal envtronment of one-two-storeyed buildings. In the town-planning system of villages they are buildings with notıcable volume, scale ~nd compositional solution. Most social bulldings occupy one or anather plot of the distrlct and introduce stimulus into the plannlng and volumetrtc system of environment which wrecks the monotony of blank fences of estates. Arrangement of mosques, bahts, ovdans or caravanserats •n different districts enrtches their archttecture. They have rich information about the socio-economic condition of development of the populated place, histartcal data about custo:Lmers ant what is veıy important about the masters who have left thetr.names on the epigraphic vıgnettes of the bulldings. Among the erections which have influenced upon the general charcı:cter of the bullding of histarical villages, religions buildings are of great volumetne and archıtectural tmportance.

(•) He ls a State Prlze Winner of . corresponding member of Azerbafjan Academy of Sclences.

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. .. .:... Religions buildings are more ideological according to their content and more pondrable in architectural and structural aspect. Occupying more tınportant places in the structure of v1llages as the elements of the flrst rate, religions buildings play significant role in the planning of town-building systems of districts as the functions of the second rate and thus extend the sphere of influence upon such ctvilm b uildings as baths and ov9ans. Because als these erecUons-according to th~ ch araeter of mus11m traditions c;rre closely interconnected with each other. Ritual peculiarities of Islamic worship and ·so'cial-living conditıons of the local population make it necessary to have a bath:house and water n~ar the mosque. In the East on laying the founoatiqn of the populated area. a fortrees or a dtStrict. the main rules of the toWıı-planning a~e have always been tak~n into coiıs'ıcte'ration. when creating the social cenlre ·ar the city and the centre of the dtstrict Juma-mosque. abath-house a pool and stalls were built. Thus in histarical v1llages of Apsheron the social and religtons buildings have in peculiar form determined their volumetric and co~position·aı settUng. . . Juma-mosques arid surraunding buildings betng transformed into the· main social centre of the viiiage were closeıy· cohneded with .smail centres of dtstricts and together formed the structural !frame ·of social buildings. Besides their main functions in the structure of villages the reltgion~ have same dtsciplintng element in the planntng system of the vlllages, unite the- isolated distrtcts in the plan of regulatton of town building· principles in the existıng situatıbn .. '

Owing to iıistortcal development each village of Apsheron ·aııocated certain places for rellgıons buildings which became the main ·eıements of creatıng artd forming not only social centres but also for planntng organtzatin of ımporta·nt town-building complexes.

It ls diffucult to overrate the role and signlficance of rdigions buildings in volumetric-spatial and archıtectural planntng structure of villages. Besides their social character they are architectural dominats. more visual tandmarks in mulqplanned system of the v1llag~. actively perlarm their functions in the subject-spatıal environment.

The arrangement of religıons arections is not stmple. They are situated among the ordinaıy buildings of the village. in the centre of the district, perform an independent volumetric-spatıal functıon, but in all vanriants survive a leading Posttion in the building of the street, in

298 compositional sulution of plannıng complexes and in the silhouette of the village. Having a great emotıonal supply religions buildings mı a gab between the picturesque plannıng and mass dwelling, social buildings. · · The social charecter of religlons buildings has played its positive role in t~e formatfon of distrtct squares which promoted the creation of new forms of spatial arganJzatlon. Beıng an integral part of the village the religtons buildings have become catalysts for appeartng of civil buildings {bath-houses, ondans and commercial rows), as a result of which are formed the social centres on the scale of villages. · · Depending on socio-economic development of villages appeared the social centres wıth religıons buildings. In big villages as Mashtagha, Bilgakh. . . Aml.ıjan. Balakhany ant others preponderated the centress with a dominant mosque but in smail popiılated areas there was a sıngle social -centre with a mosque survivlng the function of commercial and religions centre.

A mosque as a religions bullding ın · Apsheron existed since the VIII century with appearing of Islam in these places and ın the process of long evolution are determined general objective laws in architectural-planning and in volumetric-spatial aspect. There are such ancient mosques as the mosque of Malıarnmed or Synykgala {1078/79). Lazghi-mosque {1 169), Khydlr-mosque {XIUc.). Gilak-mosque ( 1309) ant oth ers in the terrltory of Ichert-shher ın Baku where the main prtnclples of religions buildlng were put forward at the earliest pertod of artsıng and forming of social buildings in Apsheron.

As the terrttory of Icheri-sheher ts limited, religions building includıng mosque are situated among residential houses except some of them as volumetric elements are distingulshed for nothtng in the system of the street excepting their simple porta! compositions. In this town-buildtng environment were created the planning typological groups which were the basis of the further development of religions buildings in Icheri-sheher and Apsheron. Religions b~ildlngs in Apsheron are preserved since the XIV century. They sprang up on the basis of the most ancient buildings which dlrected the development of architectural-planning character of the following periods. Chronologically the religions buildtngs have passed a long way of their development before are created certain typological groups of buildtngs of social character. Analysing the material it ls discovered

299 that the relıgions building of Apssheron chronologically may be divided into 5 periods: 1. XIV-XV c., 2. XVII-XVIII cc., 3. XIX c., 4- the second half of the XIX c .. 5- the begining of the XX c.

Each period ıs presented by the monuments of archttecture, when the typologıcal group has independence and contlnutty of architectural-plannıng solution and ıts structural features. Mosques in the villages Nardaran (Pir Seyid, 1307, 1363/64), Amlıjan (mosque of Nizamaddin, 1329/30, 1855/56, 1866/67, 1876),Ramana (mosque near the fortrees, ı323/24, 1636/37),-Marda.kan (Tubashi: mosque. 1372/73. 1482/83). Balakhany (rnosque in the cemetıy. ı385}. Dudakh (mosque ı430/3ı. 1843, ı852, ı862/63. ı874). Mashtagha (mosque of Pirargutay. 14ı4/15). Kurdakhany(mosque ı444/45, ı897) date from the first period. Apart from the fact that the first period has a rich information about the religions buildings of Apsheron where certaln types ond forms begın to. develop, the aspect of development of settlements and the beginlng of their town-planning formatfon from the point of vtew of planning structure on the basis of religions buildings draw attention.

The main architectural - structural prtnctples of religıons ·buildtngs, their graphic solution. the inner system of interiors, the structure of architectural masses according to principles of stone architecture which have tlıeır speciftc peculiaritıes are formed just in this period. Most of these buildings in the course of long existence were · repaired, reconstructed. widened. but preserved the ancıent parts which gıve more reliable information in planntng and architectural respect. It is very Jmportant for drawıng the designs of restoratıon. In that period were created two main plannıng types of Apsheron mosque : one-charnher mosque rectangular in plan covered wtth a monumental vault and a mosque wıth four pillars covered wtth dome.

The se·cond period in the development of religins buildings in preseted by the mosques in the villages Bilajari (1658/59. ı741/42, ı850/5ı). Nardaran (mosque-school ı686/87, the rnosque of Haji Bakhshy, 1663/64}. Gala (XVIII c.). Novkhany (the mosque of Shah Sultan Hyseyn. XVIII c.). Mashtagha (the mosque of Haji Aslan Bay. 1765/66, Karbalai Jafar. ı 796/97). Buzovna (Ashaghi - mosque, ı 776/77, ı838, 1875). Holanaly (XVIII c.). (XVIIIc., 1883/84}. Owing to social economic conditions of Shirvan. there are no rellgions buildings daUng from XVI ce~tury in Apsheron. In the XVII-XVIII

300 centurtes took place the new architectural-planning methods ·and composittonal forms which were used in religions butldings. These buildıngs activily take part in transfomıatıon of surraunding bulldings.

If to compare with the first period is extended not only the sphere of plannıng typology of rellgıons buildings but other populated areas of Apsheron as Bilajari, , Gala, Novkhany, Buzovna, Hok:maly, Zabrat are drawn into this erection. Perhaps there were mosque of the flrst period in these villages, then in their places were bunt the new and large ones more convinient from the point of view of planning methods of the second period. Re11gions bulldings of this period are the new stage in thetr development. The construction of volumes. interpretatlon of facades, architectural methods in the composttion of mosques consist of structural possibilitles of stone architecture under strong influence of building traditions. ·

In that period t4ere were orıgtnal religions buildings whlch occupted the town-plannıng complexes of dev.e~optng villages· but as regards the volumetric-spaUal and composttional solution,platıcs and form-making the mosques in the ceriıetry of Balakhany ( 1385) and Tuba-shahi (1372, 1482/83) in Mardakan are the classıc examples of Shirvan-Apsheron architecture. . The third period when all the planning types of religtons bulldlngs in Apsheron were completely developed and was golng a process of correction and appearıng of varieties which didn't play a special role ın typology. At that time a critica! moment came in the formatıon of rellgions buildlngs. lt seems that nothing has changed neither in the methods of planning nor in architectural-buildlng forms. Nevertheless many changes have taken place in volumetric-spatial interpretalion. in solution of facades and l.n building of the intemal system of volumelric masses. The fourth period is characteristlc for great social-economic changes in the life of the populalion of villages when the oll industry began to develop, the movement of the population from villages to Baku and its oil districts became more ıntensıve and means for building !ncluding re11gions buildings were found. Surviving the former planning methods in religions buildings appeared big praying haiıs which were not met in prevıous periods. Three-passaged mosques became dominant. but fiye-passaged ones were also met. Such a planning solution of the praying hall from perfectly new angle opens the archttectural-construclive structure of the lnterior space wıth 301 ,numerous colunms wlılch carry arehes wıth cruclfomı va11lls of the celltng o( wlde passages. Atllıe same tınıe ın the conslructıve system of the lnlcrlor appcar lhe senıleh-ele vaulls

Durlrıg all pcrlods of development of rellgtous bul1dtngs nlne plannıng lypes whlch conlaln Uıc gre<~l polentıal resources of typologıcal group of social. buiİdJngs were. dclennlncd. . Not a lypc has .losl. lls slgnlflcance pass ıng all the perlods of formalton and t~ansfonnıng lnto llı:e origlnal classlcal s~heın,es. They appear~d as a resull'of Üıe hlslorlcal.cJevclopment of rellglous bulldlngs and set In the

basls of this or. that bullcllng taking plaçe In the town-plannlng. .system. of lhl~ or that vlllnge of J\pshcron. All the plannlng types can be pres'eri.ted as. a 'table wh !Ch nw.re colourfully renects the lypolof$1cal evolullon of rellgl.oııs bulldlııgs.

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J ll lll IV V· VI VII VIII IX

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