Friday Mosque of Shamakhi

The Juma Mosque of Shamakhi (Azerbaijani: Şamaxı Cümə Məscidi, Arabic: مسجد الجمعة في شماخي, Persian: مسجد جمعه شماخی), is a mosque in the city of Shamakhi, Azerbaijan.

History

The mosque was built in 126 AH (743/744 CE), from ligature on the façade of the Juma Mosque, based on geological research from Tiflis, which was led by Prince Shahgulu Qajar. The construction of mosques began in the territory of Azerbaijan around this time. The historical appearance of ancient Islamic architectural monuments was related to Arabs’ governance and spreading of Islam in the territory of Azerbaijan. The Juma Mosque of Shamakhi is considered the first mosque in the Caucasus after cathedral Juma Mosque of Derbent, that was constructed in 734.

The construction date of the Juma Mosque is dated from the governance period of Caliphate’s vicar in the Caucasus and Dagestan, Arabic commander Maslam ibn Abd-al Melik, brother of Umayyad caliph Valil I (705-715), by whom Shamakhi was chosen as the residence. In these years Arab governors, strengthening towers of this ancient city with the rich cultural heritage, began the construction of new structures in its territory. Arabs attached the great importance to Shamakhi, which is visible from the great architectural appearance of Juma Mosque.

Reconstructions

Considerable demolitions and damages of Juma Mosque during the battles and earthquakes were the reason of restorative reconstructions of the mosque’s building. According to information of Imadeddin Isfahani - a chronicler of Seljuq’s epoch, beginning from 1123, Shirvanshah rulers resorted to Seljuq’s sultan Mahmud (1118-1131), for defense from forays of Georgians. The chronicle says that “the assailants demolished the mosque, knocked down the minaret, plundered in the city” at that time in Shamakhi.

The first construction of Juma Mosque was begun at the end of the 12th century and was related to the considerable damage to Juma Mosque's building suffered from partial forays and was conditioned by the strengthening of Shirvanshakh's power during the reign of the ruler Manuchehr III, by whom were built new constructions and strengthened the city walls. Historian-archeologist Jiddi, relying on historical sources and books about construction reported about a sobriquet “The Great Khagan”, how Manuchehr II was called due his great merits. At that time, the eminent Persian poet Khaqani, native of Shamakhi, wrote that “the glory of his city overshadowed the glory of Bukhara”. Archeological excavations, held in 1970, in the territory of the mosque confirmed the considerable constructional and architectural changes, dated from that epoch. Considerable amount of madrasah, cell-huts and graves were found during the archeological excavations.

The second construction of the mosque was made in the 17th century, during the reign of the Safavid dynasty. Evliya Çelebi-Turkish scientist-traveler visiting Shamakhi in 1656, said that Juma Mosque is the largest religious construction of the city among others. In his work, Evliya Chelebi reports about some structural changes of Juma Mosque during the Safavids’ epoch.

The third reconstruction of the mosque was made in 1860 by province architect Hajibababeyov after the great damage to the building by the earthquake in 1859. This reconstruction was made on the basis of draft images of Russian artist Grigory Gagarin.

The fourth reconstruction was begun after the strongest earthquake in 1902, which was demolished and damaged many buildings of Shamakhi. For complete reconstruction of the mosque were gathered donations by philanthropists and was created a special committee. Primarily, the reconstruction of the mosque was charged to the eminent Azerbaijani architect of that time-Ziverbey Ahmadbeyov, a native of Shamakhi city. One of the conditions of the architect was preservation of the external of the mosque, but the committee didn’t agree with that, which became the reason of the architect’s discharge from the subsequent works of the mosque’s reconstruction. Continuation of the work in the mosque was offered to the architect Józef Plośko. Variation of the project, presented by Józef Plośko in 1909, provided considerable change of facade and external look of the mosque. The project was based on the foundation of elder plan and results of the uncompleted construction, but there appeared orderly flanking minarets on it and open balconies with light pavilions, symmetric-axial composition of the mosques with pair minarets was completed by a great central cupola. Such planning was used in the 15th century in construction of Tabriz school of architecture for the first time and also adopted architectural features of Shirvanshahs’ Palace ensemble in Baku. Construction of the mosque based on Józef Plośko's project was charged to D.Sadykhbeyov, but such important elements as the central cupola, side minarets, gallery, portal and central stair platform were deleted from the project during the work because of the deficiency of financial resources.

In December 2009, a governmental order about the restoration of the Juma mosque of Shamakhi was issued.