The Ashur Mosque (), also known as the Lezgi Mosque (), is a

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

in the Old City of

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

. It was founded in 1169 by the master Najaf Ashur son of Ibrahim. It is located in

Asaf Zeynalli Asaf Zeynalabdin oglu Zeynally (), also spelled Zeynalli (5 April 1909, Derbent – 27 October 1932, Baku), was an Azerbaijani composer. Early life Asaf Zeynally was the third child of the gardener Zeynalabdin and his wife Asband. He grew up in ...

Street. The mosque was closed for repairs in 2016 and , the mosque remains closed.

Overview

The mosque is frequently called the ‘Lezgin Mosque’. The second name of the mosque is connected with the

oil boom An oil boom is a period of large inflow of income as a result of high global oil prices or large oil production in an economy. Generally, this short period initially brings economic benefits, in terms of increased GDP growth, but might later lead ...

of the 19th century. As a result of this event, a large inflow of labour was observed in Baku, including from

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; ; ), officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Fede ...

. This mosque was used by Lezgin workers during

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

ceremonies. The shape of the Ashura Mosque is

parallelepiped In geometry, a parallelepiped is a three-dimensional figure formed by six parallelograms (the term ''rhomboid'' is also sometimes used with this meaning). By analogy, it relates to a parallelogram just as a cube relates to a square. Three equiva ...

. There are two small windows on the southern face of the building. The entrance of the mosque is small and arch-shaped, which leads to the single chamber prayer room. The two-storey structure measures . The construction highlights its antiquity and restructuring from the ancient fire temple. Overlapping is vaulted. The entrance is arranged in the north-eastern part in the form of a pointed arch and leads to a wide, singlechamber prayer hall. There are two openings with a semicircular arch facing outwards. Among the distinctive features – there are two

mihrab ''Mihrab'' (, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "''qibla'' wall". ...

s in the mosque: one is arranged along the axis of the hall and is divided into two sections by an arched belt, another one is a dome-shaped

stalactite A stalactite (, ; , ) is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble and that can be deposited as a colloid, or is in suspension (chemistry ...

mihrab in a corner. Both are richly decorated. In 1970, the mosque underwent restoration works and after reconstruction

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

excavations discovered two semicircular

arch An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...

es belong to the

Sassanid The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

s period in

. These findings are in the southern part of the mosque building. In the lead up to the Baku 2015 European Games, there was significant pressure from Government authorities for the mosque to close, including arresting the

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

. In July 2016, the mosque was ordered to close for repairs, and , the mosque remains closed.

References

External links

12th-century mosques in Europe Buildings and structures completed in 1169 Former mosques in Azerbaijan Icherisheher Mosques in Baku Mosques completed in the 1160s Sunni mosques in Azerbaijan {{Azerbaijan-mosque-stub

Overview

See also

References

External links