The mosque of Minuchihr (Menuçehr Camii)

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This mosque in the city of Ani, situated at the very edge of the ravine overlooking the Akhurian River or Arpa Çay, is said to have been founded by the emir Minuchihr.

However, the actual construction date and origin of this building is still subject to much argument.

According to official (Turkish) version of a history, it was built 1074 and is named after its sponsor, the Seldshuk Emir Menüchehr, the first member of the Shaddadid dynasty (Kurdish) that ruled Ani after 1072, making it the earliest surviving Turkish mosque in Anatolia.

According to another (mostly Armenian) hold that the building predates the Turkish conquest and that it was originally a palace from the Bagratid period, later converted into a mosque. Nikolai Marr, dated it to the reign of King Ashot III for that the colour of its stone is similar to that of the nearby Wall of Ashot. Because of its position beside King Ashot's walls, and its fortified appearance, it has also been suggested that it was originally a customs house, or even the residence of the Armenian Catholicos. Another theory is that the building is actually the zhamatun (bellfry) of a now destroyed Armenian church, converted to a mosque after the church's destruction.

Yet others suggest that though it was built as a mosque, it dates from a later period since the interior is similar to other 12th and 13th century buildings because structure partly utilises older foundations - hence its strange alignment.

The oldest surviving part of the mosque is its still intact minaret. It has the Arabic word Bismillah ("In the name of God") in Kufic lettering high on its northern face. The prayer hall, half of which survives, dates from a later period (the 12th or 13th century). Badly damaged by the earthquake of 1890, it was partially repaired in 1906 repaired in order for it to house a public museum containing objects found during Nicholas Marr's excavations.


Links:
virtualani.org/minuchihrmosque/index.htm