ARMENIA – Yerevan (Blue Mosque)

20:29 Travel Bunny 0 Comments

The Central Mosque (Blue) of Yerevan is the only operating mosque in Armenia. It was built in 1765 by the Persian Governor Hussein Ali Khan for Friday prayers and features a religious school built around a garden courtyard. 



Outside the mosque, an Armenian girl stopped us and requested to take a selfie with my son. He sure is a babe magnet.



My son sure is very popular in the Caucasus countries especially in Armenia. Everywhere we go, people were taking photos of my son and pinching his cheek.



The entrance to the Blue Mosque compound.



A brief description of the mosque at the entrance. Opening hours is 10am till 1pm and reopens at 3pm till 6pm.



Yerevan had been under control by various Muslim rulers since the 14 century and during the 18th century, it had been a province of Persia.



In 1827, Yerevan fell to to the Russian Empire and at that time the Blue Mosque became the largest of its eight functioning mosques.



During the Soviet times, the mosque stopped its religious service and became a museum in 1931.



The walls surrounding the Blue Mosque compound.








Because of the dominating blue colour on the entrance and tiles, the mosque is simply called Blue Mosque.



The garden courtyard of the Blue Mosque. The whole compound encompasses an area of 7,000m².



The turquoise dome of the Blue Mosque at 20m high..



Restoration of the Blue Mosque between 1996 and 1999 by Iran with new bricks and tiles.



The prayer hall is 442m².



The mosque adopts a simplicity approach to its internal design. 



Simple yet beautiful.



A Muslim praying at the mosque.



Some books at the mosque.



The minaret of 24m height.





The Blue Mosque is practically hidden from view as it is surrounded by apartments from all sides.



Permanent exhibition of Iranian handcraft.







A sculpture of the Iran’s former revered Supreme Leader, Ruhollah Khomeini.



The Blue Mosque of Yerevan  is worth a visit because of its historical values. If you are looking forward to seeing a big and majestic mosque, you can give this place a miss.



Located across the street from the mosque is the covered market (Pag Skuka).



Walked across an underpass to get to the opposite of the street. Some shops at the underpass.






The historic Pag Skuka Market is a central bazaar constructed in 1952.



This building is an officially recognised architectural monument and was Yerevan’s only market with a fixed roof during Soviet times.



Unfortunately, the building was heavily renovated in 2012 and transformed into a supermarket.





A game zone for children upstairs.



Well, the building looks nice.





A Japanese restaurant in the complex.






Transformation of a market place into a modern day shopping complex.



After this, we visited the National Gallery of Armenia. Stay tuned for the next post.