Agdam Mosque

{{Infobox religious building

| name = Aghdam Mosque

| native_name = {{langx|az|Ağdam məscidi}}

| image = Ağdam Cümə məscidi restavrasiyadan sonra, 2024-cü ilin aprelində.jpg

| alt =

| image_upright = 1.4

| caption = The mosque in 2024, after restoration

| map_type = Azerbaijan

| map_size = 250

| map_relief = 1

| map_caption = Location of the mosque in Azerbaijan

| coordinates = {{coord|39|59|N|46|56|E|region:AZ_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki|display=it}}

| religious_affiliation = Shia Islam

| location = Aghdam

| country = Azerbaijan

| district =

| consecration_year =

| organisational_status = {{ubl|{{nowrap|Mosque {{small|(1870–{{circa|1990s}})}}}}|{{nowrap|Profane use {{small|({{circa|1990s}}–2020)}}}}|Mosque {{small|(since 2022)}}}}

| functional_status = Active {{small|(restored)}}

| architect = Karbalayi Safikhan Karabakhi

| architecture_type = {{nowrap|Mosque architecture}}

| architecture_style = {{ubl|Islamic|Azerbaijani}}

| groundbreaking = {{circa|1868}}

| year_completed = {{circa|1870}}

| minaret_quantity = Two

| dome_quantity = Nine {{small|(maybe more)}}

| materials = Brick; iron; marble; timber

}}

The Aghdam Mosque ({{langx|az|Ağdam məscidi}}) or Juma Mosque ({{langx|az|Cümə məscidi}}) is a Shia Islam mosque, located in the ghost town of Aghdam, Azerbaijan.{{cite news |last1=Paul |first1=Amanda |title=Agdam -- an Azerbaijani ghost town |url=http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist/amanda-paul/agdam-an-azerbaijani-ghost-town_244251.html |work=Today's Zaman |date=17 May 2011 |access-date=2015-10-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223022213/http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist/amanda-paul/agdam-an-azerbaijani-ghost-town_244251.html |archive-date=2015-12-23 |url-status=dead}} Completed in the 1870s, the mosque was desecrated during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and restored following the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.

History

= Construction =

The mosque was built by the architect Karbalayi Safikhan Karabakhi from 1868 to 1870, in the typical style for mosques in the Karabakh region, which included the division of stone columns on the two-story gallery and the use of domed ceilings. Other mosques in this style include Barda Mosque, the Yukhari Govhar Agha Mosque in Shusha, a mosque in the city of Fuzuli and one in the village of Horadiz.{{cite web |script-title=ru:ВЛИЯНИЕ ХРИСТИАНСТВА НА АРХИТЕКТУРУ АЗЕРБАЙДЖАНА |url=http://www.bakililar.az/ca/history/khristark.html |work=Bakilililar.az |access-date=26 July 2010 |language=ru}}{{cite web |author= |title=The Aghdam Mosque |url=https://monumentwatch.org/en/monument/the-aghdam-mosque/ |work=Monument Watch |publisher= |date=n.d. |access-date=23 December 2024 }}

= Armenian occupation =

During the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, Aghdam was used by Azerbaijani forces to fire BM-21 Grad long-range missiles at the Armenian populace of Stepanakert.{{cite book |author1=Denber, Rachel |author2=Goldman, Robert K. |title=Bloodshed in the Caucasus: Escalation of the Armed Conflict in Nagorno Karabakh |date=1992 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |page=13 |isbn=9781564320810 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ywAU3VomIpkC&pg=PA13}}{{cite book |last=Denber|first=Rachel |title=Bloodshed in the Caucasus: Indiscriminate Bombing and Shelling by Azerbaijani Forces in Nagorno Karabakh |date=July 1993 |publisher=Human Rights Watch/Helsinki |pages=17–18 |url=https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/USSR2937.PDF}} Aghdam later came under the control of Armenian forces. After the capture, according to eyewitnesses, the city was plundered, destroyed and burned.{{cite book |first1=Лилия |last1=Гурьянова |first2=Дмитрий |last2=Васильев |title =Мёртвая зона. Города-призраки |trans-title=Dead zone. Ghost towns |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_5968404957 |lang=ru |publisher=Вектор |date=2006 |location=Saint Petersburg |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_5968404957/page/n110 113] |isbn=5-9684-0495-7 }} The Aghdam Mosque, the only building left standing in Aghdam, has been vandalized with graffiti and used as a stable for cattle and swine.{{Cite web |title=Azerbaijani leader hails handover of region ceded by Armenia |url=https://apnews.com/article/azerbaijan-handover-region-armenia-2d0d88c012fdd16732cecd35d134cabf |access-date=2022-05-24 |website=AP NEWS |language=en}}{{cite web |author1=Gall, Carlotta |author1-link=Carlotta Gall |author2=Troianovski, Anton |date=11 December 2020 |title=After Nagorno-Karabakh War, Trauma, Tragedy and Devastation |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/world/europe/nagorno-karabakh-armenia-azerbaijan.html |access-date=12 December 2020 |work=The New York Times |quote=The graceful 19th-century central mosque is the only building left standing in Aghdam. Defiled by Armenian graffiti, it was used as a cowshed.}}{{cite web |author= |date=28 November 2020 |title=Nagorno-Karabakh: Tough rebuilding ahead for devastated city of Aghdam |url=https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20201128-nagorno-karabakh-tough-rebuilding-ahead-for-devastated-city-of-agdam |access-date=12 December 2020 |website=france24.com |publisher=France 24 |quote=}}{{Cite web |title=Azerbaijani leader hails handover of region ceded by Armenia |url=https://apnews.com/article/azerbaijan-handover-region-armenia-2d0d88c012fdd16732cecd35d134cabf |access-date=2022-05-23 |website=AP NEWS |language=en}} A narrative of "barbarous Armenians who turn mosques into pigsties" would become an important component of mobilization in Azerbaijan in the prelude to the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.{{cite journal |last1=Gamaghelyan |first1=Philip |last2=Rumyantsev |first2=Sergey |date=2021 |title=The road to the Second Karabakh War: the role of ethno-centric narratives in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict |journal=Caucasus Survey |volume=9 |issue=3 |page=329 |doi=10.1080/23761199.2021.1932068 |doi-access=}}

In 2009, the Republic of Artsakh began funding measures to preserve Islamic monuments. According to Artsakh officials the surroundings of the Aghdam Mosque were cleaned from the rubble and fenced in 2010.{{Cite web|date=17 November 2010 |title=Works on preservation of Muslim cultural heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh underway |url=https://news.am/eng/news/38354.html|url-status=live |website=news.am |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402094035/http://news.am/eng/news/38354.html |archive-date=2015-04-02 }}{{Cite web |title=Armenian Karabakh Official Says Mosques Being Repaired |date=November 18, 2010 |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/Armenian_Karabakh_Officials_Says_Mosques_Being_Repaired/2223517.html |website=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty |access-date= }} The RFE/RL journalist Stepan Lohr, who visited Agdam in 2011, posted photos of the mosque with no roof, and what he described as "the neglected and damaged interior of Aghdam's once-glorious mosque".{{Cite web |title=No-Man's-Land: Inside Azerbaijan's Ghost City Of Aghdam Before Its Recapture |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/inside-agdam-the-ghost-city-of-the-caucasus-after-1990s-conflict/30966555.html |access-date=2022-05-24 |website=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty |language=en}} A satellite investigation conducted by the Caucasus Heritage Watch of Cornell University found that between 1977 and 2019, the structure and shape of the mosque remained unchanged. Since 1992, the mosque sustained minor damage under Armenian control, with only the modern roofing installed during Soviet times being removed.{{cite web |author1=Khatchadourian, Lori |author2=Lindsay, Ian |author3=Smith, Adam T. |author3-link=Adam T. Smith |author4=Ghulyan, Husik |title=Aghdam Mosque |work=Between the Wars: A Satellite Investigation of the Treatment of Azerbaijani Cultural Heritage in the Unrecognized Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, 1994-2020 |date=April 5, 2023 |publisher=Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies: Cornell University |access-date=October 13, 2023 |url=https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/5da017956b1f41f3a78f49f0966eb5d8}}

= After the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war =

Following Azerbaijan's victory in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, it regained the district of Aghdam through the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement on 20 November 2020.{{cite web |title=Armenia hands over Aghdam to Azerbaijan as part of Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire |url=https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20201120-armenia-hands-over-aghdam-to-azerbaijan-as-part-of-nagorno-karabakh-ceasefire |website=France 24 |access-date=24 April 2022 |date=20 November 2020}} Three days later, president Ilham Aliyev and first lady Mehriban Aliyeva visited the ruins of the city and the Aghdam Mosque. Aliyev gifted a Quran from Mecca to the mosque.{{cite web |title=President Aliyev presents Holy Quran he brought from Mecca to Aghdam mosque |url=https://en.trend.az/azerbaijan/politics/3339296.html |website=Trend.Az |access-date=24 April 2022 |date=24 November 2020}} In 2020, after the ceding of Aghdam back to Azerbaijan, the first Friday prayer in 28 years was held in the mosque by the last imam of the mosque and Azerbaijani soldiers.{{Cite web |url=https://www.trtworld.com/asia/nagorno-karabakh-azerbaijan-enters-aghdam-district-handed-over-by-armenia-41639 |title=Nagorno-Karabakh: Azerbaijan enters Aghdam district handed over by Armenia |website=TRT World.com |date=20 November 2020 |access-date= |author= |agency=Associated Press }}{{Cite web |url=https://www.geo.tv/latest/319891-mosque-partially-destroyed-during-armenian-occupation-comes-alive-after-27-years |title=Mosque partially destroyed during Armenian occupation comes alive after 27 years |website=www.geo.tv |date=22 November 2020 |access-date= |author= }} Restoration of the mosque commenced in 2022, funded with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.{{cite web |url=https://heydar-aliyev-foundation.org/en/content/view/139/5431/Aghdam-Juma-Mosque- |title=Aghdam Juma Mosque |work=Projects: Culture: Azerbaijan – the address of tolerance |publisher=Heydar Aliyev Foundation |date=2020 |access-date=23 December 2024 }}