We when the first time came across information about the blue mosque in Yerevan first did not even believe - they thought it was some kind of mistake. But it turned out that this is true and such a mosque in Yerevan really exists. True, it is not so big and majestic as her namesake in Istanbul, but also very beautiful and interesting. Therefore, in the nearest our husband's visit to Yerevan, we decided to visit it without fail. Therefore, I want to share how we did it, there may be someone as we did not hear anything about it before.
If you wish, you can find this mosque at the following address - Mesrop Avenue Mashtots, 12. It is almost opposite the building of the former central market or you can walk literally five minutes from the children's park. In principle, the entrance to the mosque is absolutely free, but only for inspection there are certain hours - from 10 am to 13 hours of the day, and then from 15 hours and to 18.
You can sit on the subway and get to the Zoravar Andranik station, and you can just stroll because the mosque is nearby from the Republic Square and if you are in the center, then it is easy to walk with a pawn. And we left for example children walk in a children's park, and they themselves went to inspect the mosque.
The Blue Mosque in Yerevan was built in 1765 on the personal indication of the Turkic Khan of the Erivan Khanate, who was also the governor of the city in the same period. Since in those days of Armenia was the Iranian province, they built it accordingly in the Iranian style. And she naturally received its name because of the most beautiful central dome, skillfully lined with blue faience tiles.
In addition to this in Yerevan, at that time, there was still somewhere from six to eight mosques, but in the Soviet period almost all of them were destroyed, but the blue mosque survived literally miracle, but only because during first the first and then the Second World War in She was a warehouse of ammunition. Well, after her no longer be destroyed, but placed inside the Museum of History of Yerevan.
The current blue mosque has not been so long - in 1995 after the corresponding agreement was signed between Armenia and Iran and in and outside the mosque were restoration work. Nowadays, the blue mosque is the only valid mosque throughout Armenia. Externally, it looks very beautiful. She has forged openwork gates and bright facing. On the facade you can see signboards with inscriptions in Armenian and English.
When we went to the territory of the mosque, first of all got into a very pretty and cozy patio, there is a small fountain, a bushes of roses blooming and many trees. On the perimeter of this courtyard are located - a library and a small exhibition hall in size. In the library, approximately eight thousand books of both religious and not religious character are stored. In addition, there are 26 class pavilions here, in which they teach the Persian language.
Following further we saw a 24-meter minaret, dome and main hall. By the way, in initially there were four minarets in the blue mosque, but three of them were destroyed at various times. On the territory of the mosque, we were in principle for themselves, but already the main and domeal halls went inspecting accompanied by a guide. She praised us a lot of interesting things.
Inside the mosque turned out to be more ascetic and even simple than the outside. Of course, it would be necessary to somehow decorate and put in order inside, but probably you need some means. By the way, a woman - a guide is working here for small donations, so we also thanked it too. We also examined inside everything that is exhibited there - these are very beautiful items of Iranian art - caskets, dishes and all sorts of household trivia. In general, the mosque for us made the impressions, we did not regret what we visited here.