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12КУЛЬТУРОЛОГИЯ
PROTECTION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE - MONUMENTS OF KARABAKH
RAHIBA ALIYEVA Ph.D in Architectur, assistn profess.Institute of Architecture and Art Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Azerbaijan, Baku
Abstract.Today our sore spot, which is in the center of attention due to its relevance, our cultural and historical heritage in the liberated from occupation lands of Karabakh is again waiting for its study, monitoring of monuments, waiting for the reconstruction of cities and villages. Today we are witnessing the deplorable state of our cultural and historical monuments on our lands devastated by the Armenian occupiers for about 30 years.
Keywords: Karabakh architecture, cultural heritage, historical monuments, christian monuments, Caucasian Albanian, Islamic monuments.
The protection of cultural heritage is one of the priority issues of today. In this field, the architectural heritage deserves special mention. In this area, the architectural heritage deserves special mention. Unfortunately, in today's world we are unable to satisfactorily preserve and pass on our monuments to future generations. The expansion of modern cities, the conduct of large-scale construction work, infrastructure projects, the expansion of landscaping in accordance with the growth of the population, the lack of repair and construction work, the impact of natural and anthropogenic factors became the reason for the reduction of historical sites. In the territories where conflicts occur - in the lands of Iraq, Syria, Palestine, the destruction of cultural heritage bypassing the requirements of the Hague Convention has caused serious damage to both the heritage of individual countries and the heritage of the whole world. Unfortunately, we also feel this pain on ourselves as a result of the atrocities committed by the Armenian vandals in Karabakh.
Today our sore spot, which is in the center of attention due to its relevance, our cultural and historical heritage in the liberated from occupation lands of Karabakh is again waiting for its study, monitoring of monuments, waiting for the reconstruction of cities and villages. Today we are witnessing the deplorable state of our cultural and historical monuments on our lands devastated by the Armenian occupiers for about 30 years. Armenian vandals, carrying out violence against the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan in several directions, have been appropriating architectural, especially Christian monuments for a long time, considering themselves the only heir of Christian culture on the territory of the Caucasus, examining Albanian Christian-Turkic temples as their values, and thereby, distorting their history, present them to the world in this form. Assimilating, the Christian temples of Khudaveng, Ganjasar in Kelbajar, Aghoghlan in Lachin are presented to the world as Armenian-Gregorian churches.[Figure 1,2,3,4] The epigraphic inscriptions in the Albanian alphabet on such rare samples of Albanian culture as the monasteries of Elisey, Hasanriz, on the grave of the Albanian ruler Vachagan III and other monuments were erased, and the gravestone inscriptions in the Armenian alphabet have already been dismantled there. [4]
Figure 1. Khudavang monastery Figure 2. Agoghlan monastery
Figure 3. Amaras temple Figure 4. Ganjasar temple
The Azikh, Taglar caves, which are the place of settlement of the first people, where the great ancestors of mankind lived, were impudently presented by the Armenians to the World Heritage List of UNESCO as the abode of their ancestors, illegal research was carried out there together with archaeologists invited from abroad. In addition, in terms of underestimating cultural heritage, the caves were turned into ammunition dumps.
Since the Armenians cannot ascribe to themselves the right to own Islamic monuments, they either destroy them, erase their traces, or attribute them to the architecture of other countries and "restore" them at the expense of those very countries. This includes tombstones, mausoleums and mosques. Presented as Persian, the Yukhari Govhara Agha mosque in Shusha, the Goy mosque in Yerevan was allowed to be restored by the specialists of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Emir Saad mausoleum, which is a vivid example of the Nakhchivan school of architecture, was restored as a Turkmen one by Republic of Turkmenistan. And this is how they appear to the world as a "tolerant" country.
Despite the fact that the Armenians, appropriating our monuments, present them to the world as their own, they are not able to erase the masterful traces of the Azerbaijani Turks on them. Our architectural pearls in the treasury of world civilization are distinguished by the art of master architects who have imprinted their culture, ethnography, national customs and traditions, construction equipment on stones. The architectural heritage created on the territory of Azerbaijan by our great ancestors is our national and cultural values. As part of our cultural values, the monuments of Karabakh are one of the grandest branches of the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan. Monumental Karabakh architecture, which has traveled a long chronological path, starting from the cave camps of Azikh and Taglar, which are 2 thousand years old, until the beginning of ХХ th century, was enriched with landscape gardening, monumental and memorial monuments during the Soviet period.
It should be reminded that in Nagorno-Karabakh and in the adjacent regions up today, have been subjected to violence cultural and historical monuments - 13 of global importance (6 architectural and 7 archaeological), 292 of national importance (119 of architectural and 173 of archaeological) and 330 of local importance (270 of architectural, 22 of archaeological, 23 garden and park, monumental and memorial monuments, 15 samples of decorative art).
In the Karabakh region, traces of the Guruchay culture of the Paleolithic period, the Kuro-Araxes and Khojaly-Gadabay cultures that existed in the Bronze and Iron eras were found. The stone slabs found in the plains and mountainous areas of Karabakh belong to the ancient period, and dolmens, cromlechs, figures of sheep in Khojaly and Khankendi are rare examples of culture belonging to the late Neolithic era.
Christian temples belonging to the IV-XVI centuries, which reflect the Albanian architecture in Karabakh, are found in the territory of Khojaly, Khojavend, Barda, Aghjabadi, Tartar, as well as in Lachin and Kelbajar. Among them, one can point to the Aghoghlan monastery located in the Lachin region, the Khudaveng monasteries, Ganjasar in the Kelbajar region, the Amaras monastery in the Khojavend region, the temple complex of St. Elisey in the Aghdere region and others.
With the adoption of Islam on the territory of Albania and Azerbaijan, many mosques, madrassas and other Muslim buildings were erected in the country.
The era of Islamic culture can be called the heyday of Karabakh. During this period, the great master architects, having gained fame as "Garabagi" and "Bardai", became the authors of a number of beautiful and unique architectural works.
The development of a number of cities in Karabakh - Aghdere, Kelbajar, Khojavend, Shusha, Khankendi, Terter, Aghdam, Fizuli, Jebrail, Aghjabedi, Lachin, Gubadli, Zengilan falls on the Islamic period. The style of national-spiritual and ideological thinking in the architectural and town-planning structure of these cities found artistic reflection in the building culture. New national and ideological features manifested themselves in the interior of houses and office buildings. This can be traced in the medieval architectural heritage of Azerbaijan, as well as Karabakh. Mausoleum of Sheikh Yagub (XII century) in the Fizuli region, Juma mosque, Haji Alaskar in Goch Akhmedli, mausoleums of Mir Ali (XIV century) in the village of Ashaghi Veysalli and in Ahmedallar (XIV), mausoleums of Sheikh Ibrahim (XVII century), Ahmed Sultan, Jalal (Hijri 1307), the Juma mosque in the Horadiz village, the Asgeran fortress in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Maiden Fortress in the Jabrail region, in the Shikhlar village in Jebrail (1308) and other mausoleums, Khudafarin bridges, a 12-sided mausoleum near the village of Khachyn Derbendli, Aghdam region (1870), Gutlu Haji Musa oghlu Mausoleum, Panahali Khan's Palace, Bath in Abdal Gulably Village of Aghdam (early 20th century), Shahbulag, Aghdam Mosque, 12-arch bridge over the Tartar River in Barda, Barda Mausoleum (XIV century), the complex of a two-minaret mosque (1868), built by Karbalayi Safikhan Garabaghi in the city of Barda, the "Bahman Mirza" mausoleum, the Garghabazar karvansaray in Fizuli, the Mir Ali mausoleum, the Haji Alekber mosque, the Lalezar bridge in Gubadli, the Demirchiler mausoleum Haji Yahya in Zengilan, the tomb of Shirifan, bridges on the territory of Lachin, the mausoleums of Melik Ajdar, Garasaggal, Soltan Baba, Sheikh Ahmed, Sari Ashig (15th century) in the village of Jijimli, "Ushag Galasy" (Fortress of the Child), the monument "Boyuk Bulag" (Big Spring) - (XV century) in the village of Gushchu, the Hamza Sultan palace (1761) arealsovaluable examples for our material culture.
Figure 5. Lower Govhar aga mosque
Figure 6.Upper Govhar aga mosque
Figure 7.Before the mausoleum of Vidadi
Figure 8. After the mausoleum of Vidadi
In the second half of the 18th century, the fortresses of Bayat, Shahbulag, Panahabad (Shusha) were erected in Karabakh and markets, kervansarai, mosques, baths, etc. were built in these fortresses, new settlements and cities arose. A palace belonging to Panahali khan and mausoleums belonging to his family were built in Aghdam. [1] The most important feature of the Azerbaijani urban planning art in the 18th century is the formation of centers of khanates in connection with the socio-political situation in the country. Among the newly emerged centers of the khanates, the city of Shusha, the capital of the Karabakh Khanate, is distinguished by its extraordinary nature and excellent strategic indicators of the area where it was built. In 1988, the city of Shusha was declared the State Cultural and Historical Reserve of the Republic of Azerbaijan.[2] Currently, the historical appearance of the city, liberated from the Armenian occupation, has been influenced by a number of destructive factors.[Figure 6,7,8,9]
Today, on the lands of Karabakh liberated by our victorious army, our destroyed, "grieving" monuments await us. Already at the direction of Vice-President M.Aliyeva, experts-restorers from Germany began research work in the mosques of Juma Aghdam and Yukhari Govkhar Agha in Shusha. The restoration of religious buildings in other cities and villages will also be steadily carried out. They will be revived with the support of the head of our state, with great efforts of restorers and expert architects, and our worthy heritage, passing on to future generations, will appear before the world, and tourism will develop in the region. A number of infrastructure projects are being implemented in the Karabakh region by order of the head of state Ilham Aliyev. In order to develop master plans for cities and villages, the Ministry of Culture, the Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture, the Scientific Research Institute for Restoration monitored monuments, residential buildings on the territory, and is currently developing master plans according to the projects of
"sustainable villages". As the product of the "GREAT RETURN", in order to give new life to hundreds of our monuments, cities and villages, our People and State, united as a single fist, will redevelop our lands liberated from the Armenian occupation.
REFERENCE
1. Aвалов E. ApxmmTypa города Шуши. Баку, 1977.
2. Qiyasi C., Bayramov R., 9fandiyev T. Qarabag irsimiz. Baki-2008
3. Mammadova G.H., Haciyeva S.Kh. (2014). Architectural monuments of the north-western region of Azerbaijan. Baku, Sharg-Garb, 272 p.
4. Mамедова Г.Г.Зодчество Кавказской Албании.Баку-2016
5. Карабах путь через века. Баку- 2016
