Mammadbayli Mausoleum

Mammadbayli Mausoleum

Məmmədbəyli türbəsi
Location	Zangilan Rayon, Azerbaijan
Dedicated to	Yahya ibn Muhammad al-Haj

Mausoleum of Yahya ibn Muhammad al-Haj (Azerbaijani: Məmmədbəyli türbəsi) is a mausoleum of the 14th century located on uplands of Mammadbayli village of Zangilan Rayon of Azerbaijan.

History

The mausoleum was built in 1305, by architect Ali Majid ad-Din on the Silk Road. In 1975, there was held cleansing works in underground part of the mausoleum in the result of which a sepulcher was found out.^[1]

Architecture

The mausoleum has a rectangular plan with dimension of 2,95x3,30 meters. Entry of the sepulcher is located in the western part. Width of a door is 76 cm, and heights is 88 cm. According to rules of Islam the entry of the mausoleum shouldn’t exceed 120 meters, because entering person should revere of a deceased bowing down. In medieval centuries such kinds of mausoleums were built on graves of a feudal nobility and well-known people. At present the upper side of the mausoleum is slightly destroyed. Upper side of the mausoleum, which was built in form eight-edged prism, is complemented with a roof in form of a pyramid.^[2]

Its walls are thoroughly revetted with sharpened stones from inside and outside. But its sepulcher is quadrangular from the inner side. The door of the mausoleum is located at a height of 1,8 meters. Inner arch has a spherical, but external a pyramidal form. Such types of constructions are typical for many monuments of Azerbaijan.

There is a ligature in Arabic language on the door entrance of the mausoleum. It says: “I - Yahya ibn Muhammad al-Haj, possessor of this building am a weak slave needing the grace of the great Allah and offered Ali Majid ad-Din to build this building in Ramadan month of 704th year.” (28.III-27.IV.1305). There are poems from the Quran at the beginning of the ligature, in a frame - II-16-18: 61-13: 65-35 (17, 20, 21).

References