| Yerevan Fortress | |
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| Left bank of Hrazdan River (Yerevan Ararat Wine Factory place) Yerevan, Armenia |
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View of Erivan in 1796 by G. Sergeevich with Yerevan Fortress in the background. |
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Shown within Armenia
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| Type | Fortress |
| Coordinates | |
| Built | 1582-1583[1] |
| In use | Erivan’s Sardars seat |
| Demolished | 1864 |
| Current condition |
Ruined |
| Battles/wars | Ottoman–Safavid War (1623–1639) Ottoman–Persian War (1722–1727) Ottoman–Persian War (1730–1736) Russo-Persian War (1826–1828) |
Yerevan Fortress (Armenian: Երևանի բերդ Yerevani berd, Russian: Эриванская крепость Erivanskaya krepost' , Turkish: Erivan Kalesi; Persian: قلعه ایروان, qale eravân) was a medieval fortress in Yerevan, Armenia.
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The fortress was built during the Ottoman rule in 1582-1583 by Ferhat Pasha (an Ottoman army commander).[1][2][3] The fortress was destroyed by an earthquake in 1679. After the earthquake Zal-khan (khan of Khanate of Erevan) asked the shah for help to rebuilt Yerevan, including the fortress and the Palace of the Sardars. On July 12, 1679 the vice-regent of Atropatene, Mirza Ibrahim, visited Yerevan. He was directed to recover the Yerevan Fortress, the seat of the Erivan’s khan. Many villagers from Gandzak (Ganja), Agulis and Dasht (Nakhichevan) were moved to Yerevan to rebuilt the fortress. The forced labor continued until winter. Later, the Shah allowed everyone to return to their homes. The reconstruction of the Yerevan Fortress was not finished. It was continued and finished in the following years. In 1853 the fortress was ruined by an another earthquake. In 1865 the territory of the fortress was purchased by Nerses Tairyants, a merchant of the first guild. [3] Later in 1880s Tairyants built a brandy factory in the northern part of the fortress. The fortress was completely demolished in 1930s during the Soviet reign.
The Yerevan Fortress was considered to be a small town separate from the city. It was separated from the city with large and unwrought space. The fortress was rectangular with a perimeter of about 4,000 feet (about 1,200 meters). It was walled on three sides; on the fourth (western) it was flanked by the Zangu River gorge. The gorge on the north-western part of the fortress had a depth of 300 sazhen (640 meters). it was considered inaccessible was therefore not walled. The earth mound was considered as a wall. The Yerevan Fortress had three gateways on its double line battlements: Tabriz, Shirvan and Korpu. The walls had towers as old eastern castles. Each wall had an iron gate, and each one had its guard. The garrison had about 2,000 soldiers. There were 800 houses inside the fortress. The permanent residents of the fortress were local Muslim Persians only. Although Armenians were allowed to work in the markets during the day, they had to lock up and return to their homes in Shahar (the town) at night.
Khachatur Abovian described the fortress in his novel "Wounds of Armenia" as a "cannibal devil", annihilating Armenians.[4]
The palace was in the north-western part of the fortress. The palace hanged on the Hrazdan gorge. It was a square wide building with many sections. The harem was one of the biggest sections, it was 200 feet long and 125 feet wide. It was divided into many rooms and corridors. This palace was built in 1798 during the reign of Huseyn-Ali khan’s son Mahmud khan.[5] All palaces built before, were destroyed every time khans either rebuilt, or built a new one. The last one was built in 1798. The place was a Persian architecture style building. It is known that the most interesting part of the palace was Shushaband-ayva (The Hall of Mirrors), the glassed covered rest room. Its cornice was covered by colorful glasses. The ceiling was decorated by the pictures of sparkling flowers. And in the walls of the hall were eight images drawn on the canvas: Fat′h-Ali Shah, Huseyn-Ghuli khan, Hasan khan, Abbas Mirza, Persian legendary hero Faramarz, etc.[6][7]
After the capture of Yerevan by the Russians, in one of the halls of the palace, Aleksandr Griboyedov's famous comedy called Woe from Wit was performed by the military garrison with stand by of the author. A marble memorial plaque which commemorates the performance is in the Yerevan Ararat Wine Factory, which currently occupies the location where the fortress once existed.[8]
The bath of the khan’s harem was magnificent. The inner walls were covered by marble, with colorful patterns. There was a swimming pool (measurements were 15 sazhen (32 meters) in length, 4 sazhen (9 meters) in width and 3 arshin (2,1 meters) in depth).[9]
There were two mosques inside the Yerevan Fortress. One of them was Turkish (Rajab-Pasha Mosque); the second one was Persian (Abbas Mirza Mosque). The ruins of Rajab-Pasha Mosque remained until the beginning of the works of reconstruction of Yerevan in 1930s. The only wall of Abbas Mirza Mosque is still standing.
This mosque was built in 1725 during the reign of Turkish Rajab-Pasha khan. It was a 4-columned arched big building with beautiful exterior. During the Persian rule it was used as an arsenal, because it was a Sunni mosque, while Persians are Shia Muslims. In 1827, this mosque was converted to a Russian Orthodox church, named after the Holy Virgin.[10]
This mosque was Persian and was built in the beginning of the 19th century, during the reign of the last khan of Erivan Khanate Huseyn-khan. It was Shia mosque and was called “Abbas Mirza Jami” after the son of Huseyn-khan. The façade of mosque was covered by green and blue glasses, which is usually founded in Persian n Arabic architectures. After the capture of Yerevan by the Russians, the mosque was used as an arsenal.[11][12][13][14][15] During Soviet times the mosque, along with other religious structures - Armenian churches, temples and monasteries was derelict and currently only the frame of the mosque has been preserved.[16][17]
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