Hacı Bahşi Camii

Haji Baxshi Mosque or Shah Abbas Mosque — a historic mosque from the 17th century located in the Nardaran settlement of Baku.

The mosque built in 1663 in the village of Nardaran, Absheron district, is one of the monuments showing that the 15th‑century Shirvan architectural traditions continued into the 17th century. The inscription on the building indicates that the monument was built by the architect Muradeli. In both structure and technical aspects the Nardaran mosque resembles 15th‑century Shirvan mosques. Here we must note especially the fine and specially carved stones. The Nardaran mosque was built with high quality like the buildings in the Shirvanshah palace complex.

About

In the south‑east part of the Nardaran village of Baku, 250 m south of the ancient fortress, in the Molla Talibli area, an ancient mosque built in the year 1073 of the Hijri calendar (Hijri 1073 — AD 1662–63) during the reign of Shah Abbas II is located. Adjacent to it is the only open‑air summer mosque in Azerbaijan. The construction date of the open‑air mosque: (Hijri 1283 — AD 1866).

From the rear wall a 14‑step spiral staircase leads to the mosque roof. At the roof entrance there is a tent‑shaped canopy. In the first room of the mosque, 2 m from the entrance, there is a door leading to a second room, which is the main hall of the mosque. Its length is 7.4 m and its width is also 7.4 m. On the four pillars of the mosque there are four domes with finials.

Each pillar is a single stone. During construction, on the north wall both on the right and left sides a niche was built for the holy Qur’an and books, and in each corner cells — spaces — were allocated for prayer.

According to the inscription, the monument was built in 1662-1663 AD by the master‑rank architect Murad Ali. The inscription also notes the name of the person holding the supervisory position – the serkar – which is a noteworthy point. Although the term serkar is mentioned in several other inscriptions in the territory of Azerbaijan, it had not been used together with other specialist ranks until the study of the inscription of Hacı Bahşi Mosque. It is precisely the inscription of Hacı Bahşi Mosque that has made it possible to determine the meaning of the term “serkar”: serkars acted as overall supervisors of construction works, preparing financial provision and performing organizational functions.

Architectural features

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Hacı Bahşi Mosque attracts attention among the religious buildings of Absheron with characteristic architectural features. In the plan the mosque consists of two main parts: a square‑shaped prayer hall with four columns in the centre and a niche of the entrance portal attached to it.

The centrally placed square, specially noted in the plan, is also emphasized volumetrically by a dome roof. The other rooms of the building have a flat ceiling. In addition to the main entrance, a smaller second entrance door located on the eastern wall was also constructed.

The placement of the entrance and the solution of preserving the dome roof of the main hall distinguish Hacı Bahşi Mosque from other mosques of Absheron. Like the Mərdəkan (15th century) and Keşlə (17th century) mosques, the square‑shaped plan of Nardaran Mosque has also been expanded by the addition of an entrance on the north side. As a result, the building appears to be elongated from north to south.

The architect's courage in solving the dome's supports as slender columns is astonishing. However, by connecting the columns with arches built between them and creating a system of arches that support the dome from below, the architect has succeeded in creating a reliable constructive system.

The elongated plan form mentioned above has also allowed a new element to be added to the façade of the Hacı Baxşı mosque compared with such Absheron mosques: the dome is placed asymmetrically on the main façade relative to the overall volume of the building. The mosque's façades are faced with well‑cut local limestone.