İrmaşlı Church | |
İrmaşlı Kilsəsi or Pir | |
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Irma%C5%9Flichurch.jpg/290px-Irma%C5%9Flichurch.jpg | |
General information | |
---|---|
Location | İrmaşlı |
Town or city | Shamkir |
Country | Azerbaijan |
Opened | XVI-XVII Centuries |
İrmaşlı Church is a medieval church in İrmaşlı village of Shamkir District, Azerbaijan.
History
First scientific information about the church we can find from Armenian historian Samvel Karapetyan, researcher of Foundation of Research on Armenian Architecture (RAA). According to him, the temple’s name is Huskan Natahak Vank (Martyr Huskan Monastery), and church part of the Monastery is named Surb Gevorg. But according to locals, they never heard such names, even from Armenians of neighbour village Badakənd (8 km far from Dagh-Irmashli), which is today's Alasgarli village. And more interesting, they had never seen massive visits of Armenians from Badakənd, during Soviet Period.
From Samvel Karapetyan’s book, we read that the church was mentioned as Martyr Huskan Church first time by certain “Kajikian” in Armenian newspaper like Mshak (1883) and Ardzakank (1888) in his articles named “Travel notes”. According to these articles, the Church was built in 1590. According to information, inscription on northern side of church reads “May Holy Cross protect Maghakios, 1592” and “This Holy Church was built in 1590” under it. But, these gravestones obviously were not original part of building and somebody put them there in later period. Samvel Karapetyan and Azerbaijani experts, like Fatullayev-Figarov Shamil also confirms it.
Architecture
The main building of İrmaşlı Church (exterior dimensions: 14 x 7.95 metres), represents a uni-nave vaulted structure. Its walls are remarkable for their thickness (123 centimetres), which is characteristic of other religious monuments of the late Middle Ages found in the region. The vault of the prayer hall rests on a pair of pilasters and lies below a gable roof. The walls of the bema and the entire church in general have niches. The monument (it is devoid of vestries), whose only entrance opens in the south, is illuminated through windows opening from its four facades. İrmaşlı Church bears the evident signs of reconstruction periodically carried out there. With its interiorplastered, it is mainly built of undressed stone and mortar,except for its cornerstones which are finely-cut. A great number of khachkars and tombstones (including some fragments) set in the exterior walls of the church make it particularly remarkable. Their stylistic and decorative peculiarities trace them back to the period between the 16th and 17th centuries.