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46
Section 1. Architecture
https://doi.org/10.29013/ESR-19-9.10-3-6
Amenzade Raykh, Doctor of Architecture, prof. Institute of Architecture and Art ANAS Baku, Azerbaijan E-mail: rayiha.amenzade@mail.ru
THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE CENTRAL PART OF GANJA IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE XVII CENTURY (AZERBAIJAN)
Abstract: Ganja at the very beginning of the XVII century was intensively developed and filled with buildings and structures of a wide typological palette, both independent (detached) and in complex structures. The huge flow of funds within the Safavid Empire (1501-1736) tempered the megalomaniacal desires of the rulers, which led to creation of large-scale plans and their practical implementation. The urbanization policy has proven to be quite effective on the example of the central square in Ganja, which development included construction of monumental buildings by the outstanding architect Sheikh Baha al-Din, resulting in a wonderful ensemble (religious buildings complex, caravanserai, hamam).
Keywords: urbanization, square, cult complex, hamam, caravanserai.
Introduction
Radical changes in the urban planning and architectural and artistic image of the city happened at the very beginning of the XVII century, after the main foreign policy issues were resolved. The international trade route gave a powerful impetus to the city, the development of which was an important strategic task. The vast territory of Ganja, surpassing other cities in its scale, was quite significant. This is due, first of all, to the presence of freely spreading gardens in courtyards of estates with one- and two-story houses. Gardening, which played an important role in the economy, had a definite effect both on the layout of the city and on its artistic image.
The architects of medieval Azerbaijan paid great attention to the development of the traditions of
organized urban planning. Strengthening the tendencies of the holistic organization of the Ganja cityscape, subordinating the organization of its central part to the difficultly interacting mutually perpendicular axes contributed to the formation of a trapezoidal plan in terms of a huge meydan (square). The principles of ensemble development, including the creation of differentiated spaces, the methods of combining architectural forms, get local specific expression here. All this ensured the orderliness and integrity of the compositional basis of the square as an important urbanization factor.
The drawing of the city meydan, where the religious buildings complex is located at one end of the axis, and the opposite one is closed by the trading district, was the basis for the planning and
volumetric-spatial idea of a huge, sinking in greenery a number of cities (Ardabil, Tabriz), the established
plane tree square (320 x 65 m) stretching from the urban planning traditions and established canons
north-east to south-west. At the heart of the architec- van be traced traced, including the compositional
tural ensemble of the Ganja city center, as well as in technique of the "continuity effect".
Figure 1. Ganja. Square (fragment of the plan of 1797)
It should be noted that in the latter, the Sahibabad Square, construction of which started under Ilkhanate, was finally completed by the XVI century. It had a rectangular form, along the perimeter of which administrative, religious, commercial buildings and structures were located in a system grouping with a complex of front buildings [3, p. 80-89]. Similar to the colossal sizes of the square, the main element of the large cities of the Middle Ages were present in Qazvin and Isfahan.
Judging by the Ganja plan of 1797 (made by engineer-major I. Garting) under the name "Plan of the Ganja fortress with an indication of the adjacent esplanade and part of the outer settlement", the architectural and art organization of the meydan was subordinate to the principle of the tradition of peculiar differentiation of areas and their clear ordering through rhythmic rows of equivalent dukans (approx. up to 200 shops), covered with small domes of a horizontally unfolded visual canvas [4, P. 126]. The long rows were articulated in larger cells, and thus the monotony of the metric design was lost, behind them were the buildings marked on the city
map as "silk and paper mills" [4, P. 126, 127]. On the same plane, the actual presence of a rectangular grid of streets tending to the center intersected with secondary radial lines can be found.
A decrease in the absolute dimensions of one of the short sides of the square in Ganja created a promising thickening of the metric structure of the trade and craft rows stretching along its long front. As a result, the spatial dimension of the square was visually enhanced, not completed, but continued by the religious buildings complex of the Juma Mosque (1606, architect Baha al-Din), which occupies the narrow (54 m) southwestern side of the square, where access is organized as a front portal composition with paired round-tower minarets. The monumental mosque of the central - dome composition (25.30 x 25.28 m, d domes - 14 m), located in the center of the spacious courtyard, was built up by the hudjras of the madrasah, partially preserved until the 50s of XX century., Here, there was a necropolis (lost) [1, P. 668]. Nearby is the remarkable large-scale plastic Chokek hamam, with two large and a series of small domes, covering premises ofvarious sizes.
Figure 2. Ganja Chokek hamam
The opposite side of the square (85 m) ended with a multi-yard bazaar (market) with wholesale warehouses, caravanserais, specialized bazaars (small bazaars), and a magnificent portal preceding it. About the latter, Avril Philippe (XVII century) wrote: "... the bazaars or markets located in the city center are the most beautiful and most magnificent of all that I have seen in the East not to mention their extraordinary length. They are all well covered with roofs, and each
kind of goods occupies a certain part. This is one of the main city attractions, which draws everyone attention" [4, P. 127, 128]. Such a comparison contributed to the achievement of one of the important compositional tasks - the enlargement of the large-scale characteristics of the religious buildings complex, a significant strengthening of its artistic and aesthetic value. West European travelers, merchants and messengers (A. Olearius, J. B. Tavernier, O. Chardin and other).
Figure 3. Ganja. Shah Abbas caravanserai
The large trading city had dozens of caravanserais, of which only a few survived. The Shah Abbas caravanserai, which is part of the central city ensemble, is another monumental building by the architect Sheikh Baha' al-Din, located a short distance from the religious buildings complex. Opposite it, on the axis of the ensemble was a carpet bazaar (caravanserai?) With a large yard (los t). The caravanserai of Shah Abbas adjoins a small frontal composition of the caravanserai of Ugurlu bey (XVII century), with a deep roofed tunnel-like passage into the courtyard. It occupies an asymmetric position on the facade of the building with richly developed plastic.
Conclusion
The architects of medieval Azerbaijan paid great attention to the development of the traditions of organized urban planning. The unifying link of a large number of cities that had their own individual features was architecturally designed centers. The central square of Ganja with a canonically geometrized plan has acquired the significance of the urban core with an integrated rational layout. The compositional techniques of the ensemble with differentially designated public areas are based on the feasibility ofarchitectur-ally organized areas, and where urban development and elements of nature are organically combined.
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