Стр. 60 - Azərbaycan xalçaları

60
Among Iravan carpets, the
carpets woven in Iravan city
belong in a special group. Ira-
van city was the center of the
Iravan Khanate and its cultural
and political capital. The notes
left by travelers, who came to
these lands to explore the his-
tory and culture of ancient
Oghuz-Turkic lands as well as
to describe their beauty and
the daily life of people, are very
significant. French traveler J.B.
Tavernier (1655), J. Shardenne
(1673), Duboi de Mon Pero
(1833), Italian Gemelli (1694), English J. Moriyer (1813), Ker Porter (1817), P. Cameron,
and M. Vagner described the beauty of Iravan. Asserting that Iravan was an ancient cul-
tural center, Shardenne wrote that he watched a performance in the Sardar’s Palace in 1664
on the occasion of the Novruz holiday. Emphasizing that there were
skilled performers here, the author likened the staged actions to those
of European operas. “Iravan Khan Celebrating Novruz” was performed
in Penah Khan Makinski’s house in 1881. In 1882, the play “Greediness
Earns Enemies” was staged with the participation of local amateurs. All
these examples point to the high level of civilization of the Azerbaijanis
living here. The name of this city, famous for its mosques and minarets,
was mentioned in ancient sources. I. Chopin wrote
that there were twelve mosques in the city in 1832.
The most attractive among them is the Goy Mesjid
(blue mosque) built by Haji Huseyneli Khan. Great
Azerbaijani artist Mirze Gedim Iravani played a significant role in the res-
toration of the irreplaceable Goy Mesjid, in the inscription and decoration
of its walls. The first mosque in
Iravan was built in 1510 at the
request of Shah Ismail. Safavid
Mahammad Shah Khudavend
issued an order in the sixteenth
century to build a mosque considered very im-
pressive for that era. As in all cities of Azerbaijan,
the Shah Abbas mosque was erected in honor of
Shah Abbas. French traveler J.B. Tavernier who
came to Iravan in 1655 described Iravan fortress as “a small town.” The traveler mentioned
the names of towers, gates, particular landmarks, and rivers in his description, giving evi-
dence that this area was an ancient Azerbaijani land. However, a strong earthquake in 1679
destroyed many ancient Iravan monuments before the city was rebuilt.
There were three separate quarters in Iravan in the seventeenth century. Travelers de-
scribed the quarters of Tepebashi and Demirbulag as containing shile (red) dyers, soap
makers, and blue cloth dyers. The travelers mentioned names like shilechi (red dyer), sabun-
chu (soap maker), and boyagchi (dyer).
The description of Iravan encompasses buildings constructed using bricks and stones,
latticed, arched, and four-cornered caravanserais, fountains decorated with specific orna-
ments, flower drawings, shiny mirrored salons, the Tabriz door, Sardar’s Palace, and castle
walls.
Iravan city