Erivan Fortress
A 16th-century fortress in Yerevan, now largely demolished.
Erivan Fortress, also known as Yerevan Fortress, was a 16th-century fortress in Yerevan. It was constructed during the Ottoman period and later served as a key defensive and administrative structure under successive rulers.
Quick Facts
- Location
- Left bank of Hrazdan River (in the place of Ararat Wine Factory), Armenia Yerevan, Armenia
- Built
- 1582–83
- In use
- Erivan Sardars' seat (until 1827), Armenian Oblast Governor's (1828–40); Erivan Governorate's Governor (1850–64)
- Condition
- Demolished
- Battles
- Turkish-Persian War, 1623-39
- Turkish-Persian War, 1722-27
- Turkish-Persian War, 1730-36
- Russo-Persian War, 1826-28
Facts from the source article.
History
The Ottomans, under Serdar Ferhat Pasha, raised the fortress in 1582–83. A 1679 earthquake leveled it, prompting Safavid governor Zal Khan to request Shah support for rebuilding both the fortress and the Palace of the Sardars. Another quake in 1853 caused ruin. Merchant Nerses Tairyants, a first-guild member, bought the site in 1865 and erected a brandy factory there in the 1880s. Soviet authorities demolished the fortress entirely in the 1930s, though fragments of its defensive walls survive.
Description
The Erivan Fortress was considered a small town separate from Yerevan, divided from the city by a large unwrought space. It was rectangular with a perimeter of about 4000 ft, walled on three sides; the western side was flanked by the Hrazdan River gorge, which at the north-western part had a depth of 640 meters and was left unwalled as it was deemed inaccessible. The earth mound served as a wall. The fortress had three gateways on its double line battlements: Tabriz, Shirvan, and Korpu. Walls featured towers like old eastern castles, each wall had an iron gate with its own guard. The garrison numbered about 2,000 soldiers, and there were 800 houses inside. Only local Muslims were permanent residents; Armenians could work in markets by day but had to return to Shahar at night.
Interior
The palace stood in the north-western part of the fortress, overlooking the Hrazdan gorge. It was a square wide building with many sections. The harem, one of the largest sections, measured 200 ft long and 125 ft wide, divided into many rooms and corridors. This palace was built in 1798 during the reign of Huseyn-Ali khan's son, Mahmud. Previously built palaces were destroyed whenever khans constructed new ones. The last palace, built in 1798 in Persian architectural style, contained a 'Shushaband-ayva' ('A Hall of Mirrors') with a cornice covered in colorful glass and a ceiling decorated with pictures of sparkling flowers. On the walls were eight images on canvas of Fat′h-Ali Shah, Huseyn-Ghuli and Hasan, Abbas Mirza, Faramarz, and others. After the Russian capture of Erivan, Aleksandr Griboyedov's comedy Woe from Wit was performed in one hall by the military garrison with the author present; a marble memorial plaque commemorating this is in the Yerevan Ararat Wine Factory, which now occupies the fortress site. The inner walls of the khan's harem were covered in marble with colorful patterns, and it contained a swimming pool 32 meters long, 9 meters wide, and 2.1 meters deep. Two late Safavi era mosques stood inside the fortress. Rajab-Pasha Mosque, built in 1725 during Turkish Rajab-Pasha khan's reign, was a 4-columned arched building with beautiful exterior; under Iranian rule it became a Sunni mosque used as an arsenal, and in 1827 it was converted to a Russian Orthodox church named after the Holy Virgin. Its ruins remained until reconstruction work in the 1930s. Abbas Mirza Mosque, a Shia mosque built in the early 19th century during the last khan of Erivan Khanate Huseyn-khan's reign, was named for his son. Its façade was covered with green and blue glass in Iranian style. After the Russian capture it was used as an arsenal; during Soviet times it fell derelict, and only its frame has been preserved.
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