Yerevan’s Blue Mosque Is Gem of Persian Architecture

The Blue Mosque was also pictured in Armenian Fine Arts works. The oil painting “Old Yerevan’s Trade Series /Հին Երևանի առևտրաշարքը/ by Sedrak Arakelyan (1921) depicts a part of Old Yerevan, and the Blue Dome of the Mosque is seen at a distance in the background:

After visiting the Blue Mosque accompanied by writer Khachatour Abovyan, the German traveler August von Haxthausen wrote a detailed account of the building, also describing it as the most magnificent building he had seen in Yerevan.

In addition to the Central Blue Mosque of Yerevan, there is also Persian Abbas-Ghulukhani or Tapabash Mosque in Kond district. As the Mosque is situated in the Kond district, Armenians also call it Kond Mosque – a semi-preserved mosque that survived the ages. It is non-operational at present as it needs repairs.

This mosque is modest-sized and it is completely made of bricks. The outer walls were decorated with mosaic slabs. It is supposed to have been built in 1687.

The Tapabash Mosque was magnificently portrayed in an oil painting “Old Yerevan. Kond Mosque” by the Armenian painter Petros Bayburdyan (1961). The painting is stored in the National Gallery of Armenia.

Incidentally, a scholarly article headlined “The Mosques in Yerevan (Historical Approach)” by L. Petrosyan in the Journal of Arabic Studies (2018) provides an all-inclusive and thorough research on the mosques in Yerevan.

As the research by L. Petrosyan maintains, foreign travelers have also reported that some mosques in Armenia did not survive the 1679 destructive earthquake in Armenia. For example, the French traveler Jan Sharden reported about the partially pulled down Div Sultan Mosque, which had been named so in honour of Turkmen commander Div Sultan Rumlu (p.178). The mosque is supposed to have been situated in the place of the present Blue Mosque or near it.

Moreover, in the middle of the 19th century, historian Ivan Chopin, while discussing the mosques in Yerevan, mentioned about a few pulled down and abandoned Islamic pray-rooms. In the work entitled “Old Yerevan” (1931) by Armenian Yervand Shahaziz, six mosques were mentioned, excluding Tapabash or Kond Mosque.

Petrosyan’s research also revealed that Chopin, in his work “Historical Monument of the State of the Armenian Region in the Era of its Annexation to the Russian Empire” (1852) states about six non-operational mosques in the city and two non-operational mosques inside the fortress.

Therefore, in the 19th century, when Armenia was under foreign rule, the mosques in Armenia had already been abandoned or pulled down as a result of earthquakes and government transitions.

Lastly, it should be mentioned, all in all, that there have been 9 mosques in Yerevan, including the Central Blue Mosque and the Kond Mosque – Abbas-Ghulukhani or Tapabash Mosque. The mosques that did not survive are Abbas Mirza or Sardari Mosque, Rajab Pasha Mosque, Zal Khan Mosque, Haji Novruz Ali Bey Mosque, Haji Imam Verdi Mosque, Muhammad Sardip Khan Mosque.

As Petrosyan states in his research, Abbas Mirza or Sardari and Rajab Pasha mosques had been inside Yerevan fortress. When Armenia fell under the rule of the Russian Empire, the majority of the existing mosques were operational. The non-operational mosques were either preserved or rebuilt, serving other purposes, or were left abandoned (Abbas Mirza). Later, the overwhelming majority of the mosques were torn down or turned into other buildings during the Soviet Union era.

Similarly, many Armenian churches met the same fate: St. Poghos-Petros church, St. Grigor Lusavorich church, Simeon Tseruni church (in Nork), Getsemani chapel, St. Nikoghayos Russian Orthodox church (in Shahumyan Square, Tiramor Hovanu church (inside the fortress) and Kozern cemetery were destroyed to the ground, and St. Zoravor church was closed and stopped operating.  St. Astvatsatsin Katoghike church (in Sayat-Nova and Abovyan crossroads) was partially destroyed. The large church was destroyed, but the small one remained, until now the walls bear the holes of bullets.

Moreover, many Armenian churches had been turned into barns and weaponry storehouses. For instance, St. Astvatsatsin Church in Etchmiadzin city was turned into a barn, St. Astvatsatsin Church in Vardablur village in Lori province was turned into a weaponry storehouse.

(Gayane Barseghyan is a lecturer at Brusov State University in Yerevan, Armenia. The scope of her research comprises studies in Linguistics and Romano-Germanic Philology. This article was first published in the Weekly Election Times in November 2021.)