Blue Mosque, Yerevan
The Blue Mosque (Armenian: Կապույտ մզկիթ; Persian: مسجد کبود) is a mosque in Yerevan, Armenia. It was built in 1766 during the reign of Huseyn Ali, the khan of Erivan (therefore is often referred to as "the mosque of Huseyn Ali") and was one of Yerevan's 8 mosques prior to Sovietization. It serviced Yerevan's once large Muslim community (which consisted mostly of ethnic Azerbaijanis who fled Armenia in 1988–1991 as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh War). It consists of 28 halls, a library, main prayer room and a courtyard, overall occupying 7,000 square metres of land. It originally had four 24-meter high minarets, however, three of them had been demolished by 1952, when religious services at the Blue Mosque were forbidden, and the building was turned into a planetarium due to secularist policies imposed by the Soviet government.[1] Between 1995–2006, the mosque was renovated with large funding from Iranian Muslims and religious services are currently held.
References
- ^ History at Yerevan.ru. Retrieved 16 December 2006
See also