Fortress of Goyazan

Goyazan Fortress or Yeddibürclü Fortress — a locally significant historical monument with inventory number 4534 located near the village of Alpout in the Qazax district, at the foot of Mount Goyazan.

History

Located on Mount Goyazan, the Goyazan Fortress is one of the state‑registered historical monuments with inventory number 4534. This monument is of local significance and is an architectural monument. It dates to the 14th century. Nevertheless, there are certain historiographical opinions that the Goyazan Fortress was destroyed in the mid‑8th century during the Arab invasions and again in the 13th century during the Mongol invasions.

Architecture

It rests on the steep part of the mountain and has thick walls built of local stone. The fortress wall has seven towers. The walls and some towers are well preserved. The entrance is located on the southern side between two towers. Inside the fortress there are remains of various purpose buildings and structures for collecting water. The fortress towers have a diameter of 6 metres. The surviving parts of the towers reach approximately 4 metres in height. The area of the fortress is trapezoidal; the southeastern entrance section, including two towers, is 17 metres, and the north‑western wall (including towers) is 41 metres long. From the southeast, i.e., the entrance side, to the northwest, the length of the wall, including the empty tower, is 111 metres.

Research

Small‑scale archaeological excavations have been carried out around the fortress. The initial investigations of Goyazan Fortress during the Soviet period were conducted by Jafarqulu Rustamov and Firuze Muradova. However, Armenian archaeologists who carried out archaeological research on the site in 1960–1962 allegedly created false claims in the global scientific community that this fortress was built by “ancient Armenians.” None of the sources they cite provide precise information about the fortress being built or used by Armenians, nor about its historical localization and naming. Current archaeological studies have shown that there was no ancient foundation at the core of the fortress; the fortress was built according to the Islamic‑period construction regulations of the region and belongs to the early Middle Ages.