Şahsevənlər mosque

Shahsevənlər mosque — a historic-architectural monument, a mosque, in the city of Ganja, Azerbaijan.

History

The mosque is located in the Shahsevənlər neighborhood of Ganja. Construction of the monument, an original example of Azerbaijani architecture, began in 1880. The mosque was built and completed in 1882.

The interior space of the mosque is 13 × 15 meters. The entire building of the mosque, as well as its dome, was built of baked brick. The prayer hall is divided into two sections — a women's and a men's section. The women's section consists of two floors. Each floor has an area of 2.5 × 11 meters. The floor of the mosque is wooden. The mosque has one entrance door. The door is quadrangular in shape and made of wood. Ten windows are installed in the prayer hall. The windows are wooden and have a pointed shape. The height of the mihrab is 3.5 meters. On the side and upper part of the mihrab the names of 12 imams are written. The dome of the mosque stands on eight pointed‑shaped walls. The height from the floor to the dome is 10 meters. The interior walls of the mosque are plastered with a cement mixture and painted blue. The mezzanine of the second floor of the women's section is in an amphitheater shape. The roof covering of the mosque is made of baked brick and consists of two layers. The distance between the first and second layers of the dome is 1.50 meters. The diameter of the mosque's dome is 12 meters.

During the Soviet period this mosque was used as a residential house and a library. Since 1994 the mosque’s activity has been restored. In 1970 repair and restoration work was carried out here under the leadership of Hasan Hasanov, the first secretary of the Ganja City Party Committee. The necessity of building the mosque was at that time related to the increase of the city’s population and the growth of the neighborhood. The initiators of the mosque’s construction were the local neighborhood residents. According to the congregation, a person from Tabriz supervised the construction of the mosque. The neighborhood community allocated 200 carts for transporting building materials.

The mosque differs considerably from other mosques in its composition and construction. It has no minaret. The minaret is replaced by a uniquely built structure on the northwest walls of the mosque and steps that extend up to the very top of the dome.