Rahime hanım ziyaretgâhı

Rahime hanım pilgrimage site, Nardaran pir or Pirsəid mosque — a 14th‑century architectural monument located in the area of the Nardaran settlement. The monument was built in 1363–1364 in the style of the Shirvan‑Absheron architectural school.

The building consists of several rooms constructed in different periods, which is reflected both in their planning and in various constructive solutions. The oldest part of the building is the section containing the tomb and the mosque room.

The mosque building erected over the graves of Rahime hanım and her family members remained buried under sand for centuries, and was only uncovered in 1950. Initially the building consisted of two rooms. The earlier room with a rectangular plan (5.80 × 3.20 × 2.53 m) belongs to the mosque. The second vaulted room (2.75 × 2.75 × 2.53 m) is the tomb building. The tomb has no door from elsewhere. It is entered only through a vaulted door opening from the mosque (1.13 × 0.58 m). The mosque’s vaulted door (1.20 × 0.59 m) is framed with a lattice, and the small lintel is decorated with simple geometric patterns. On the door, two pieces of limestone (1.07 × 3.9) bear a Kufic‑style inscription carved in a smooth line.

In 1994, using funds collected from the Nardaran population, a second floor was built over the ancient tomb.

The two‑storey mosque’s first floor is preserved as a pilgrimage site. The interior of the mosque measures 30 × 17 metres, with a height of 26 metres. Each of the four minarets is 41 metres high. The dome’s diameter is 17 metres and its height is 16 metres. The main worship hall has two domes. The pilgrimage site can accommodate 1 500 visitors at the same time.

There are original features in the construction of the Nardaran mosque. A new part built attached to the main rectangular section of the mosque serves as a corridor. Visitors to the mosque remove their shoes here before entering the prayer hall.

History

On the entrance door of the prayer hall, now inside the mosque, the construction book indicates that the building was erected in 1363–1364. The scholar of ethnography Məşədixanım Nemət translated the inscription on the dome of the tomb as follows: “The construction of this blessed mosque, the house of God, was ordered in the year 765 by the chosen pilgrim, the unique of the era, Grand Chairman Hacə Haji Hamza ibn Qutlu Mahmud Shahabadi – may God make his success eternal.” The book mentions Hacə Haji Hamza, who served as chief chairman in the Shirvanshah state. This position was considered the third after the Shirvanshah in the state.

The book mentions that Hacə Haji Hamza was the chief minister of Shirvanshah ruler Kavus ibn Keyqubad (1348–1372). Later Shirvanshah I Ibrahim Khalilullah also had this shrine repaired. During the Soviet period, like other shrines, the “Rahime hanım” mosque was expected to be demolished. However, the population of Nardaran prevented this. In 1951 the building, converted into a warehouse, began to store wheat. Only in 1956 the local residents gathered, cleaned the place and restored the shrine to its previous condition. Some of the tiles on Rahime hanım’s tomb have been destroyed. In 1994, using funds collected from the people of Nardaran, a second floor was built over the ancient tomb. The shrine has four minarets, each 42 meters high. In the Nardaran pir complex a husayniyya consisting of two parts was also constructed. The construction of the Rahime hanım shrine was completed in 2006.

Architectural features

The building consists of several rooms constructed in different periods, which is reflected both in their layout and in various constructive solutions. The oldest part of the building is the section containing the tomb and the prayer hall. This is evidenced by the lintel placed above the entrance door of the prayer hall, which now remains inside the building. Such lintels were usually attached to the façade of the building; the lintel remaining inside the structure indicates that the rooms opposite the prayer hall were added to the building later.

The prayer hall consists of a rectangular room covered with a wooden ceiling. As a result of the tomb being included in the overall volume of the prayer hall, a somewhat isolated small area has formed at the north of the room. The floor of the northern part of the prayer hall is raised 45 cm above the floors of the other parts. The roof of this part is significantly lower, and the ridge line does not coincide with the ridge line of the rest of the prayer hall. I. Şeblıkin considers that this part of the prayer hall was intended for women. Similar elongated rectangular prayer halls can also be found in the villages of Pirşağı, Maştağa, Qala, and Ramana in Absheron.

The mihrab, characteristic for such prayer halls, is placed within the main wall on the south side. This placement of the mihrab can also be seen in the Sınıqqala and Sheikh Ibrahim mosques of Baku. The entire shrine area was illuminated through small square openings set in the roofs. Later, window openings were created in the walls of the two large rooms.

The small room where the grave is located has an oblique entrance decorated with carved latticework characteristic of the 13th‑14th century Shirvan‑Absheron architectural school. This type of pattern is also found in the interior decoration of the Pirsaatçay khanqah and other buildings.