{{Short description|Mosque in Turkey}} {{Infobox religious building | building_name = Menûçihr Camii | native_name_lang = Turkish | religious_affiliation = Islam | image = مسجد منوچهر.jpg | image_upright = | caption = The first mosque built in Anatolia (modern day Turkey) | map_type = Turkey | map_relief = yes | coordinates = {{coord|40|30|36|N|43|34|12|E|region:TR_type:landmark|display=inline,title}} | map_size = | map_caption = | location = Kars Province | rite = | sector = | territory = | prefecture = | state = | province = Kars | region = | consecration_year = | status = | architect = | architecture_type = Mosque | architecture_style = Islamic Architecture | general_contractor = | groundbreaking = 1072 | year_completed = 1086 | facade_direction = | minaret_quantity = 1 | minaret_height = | architecture = yes | image_size = }}
'''Menucihr Mosque''', also '''Manučehr Mosque''' (Kurdish: ''Mizgefta Menûçêhr'') is a mosque in the medieval city of Ani in Kars Province, Turkey. It was built between 1072 and 1086<ref>{{cite book |title=Ani Cultural Landscape |publisher=Unesco |page=31 |url=https://whc.unesco.org/uploads/nominations/1518.pdf |quote=Researchers has dated the structure to the year of 1086}}</ref> by Manuchihr ibn Shavur of the Kurdish Shaddadid dynasty. The restoration of the mosque started in June 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|title=SHADDADIDS – Encyclopaedia Iranica|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/shaddadids|access-date=2020-12-13|website=iranicaonline.org}}</ref><ref>{{TDV Encyclopedia of Islam|title=MENÛÇİHR CAMİİ |volume-29|url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/menucihr-camii}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-06-25|title=Anatolia’s 1st Turkish mosque to open to worship after restoration|url=https://thefrontierpost.com/anatolias-1st-turkish-mosque-to-open-to-worship-after-restoration/|access-date=2021-06-02|website=The Frontier Post|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="VK">{{cite book |last1=Kalas |first1=Veronica |editor-last1=Tumanishvili |editor-first1=D. |title= Georgian Arts in the Context of European and Asian Cultures |pages= 211-216 |chapter=The Georgian Aspects of Medieval Architecture at Ani in the Thirteenth Century: The Church of Tigran Honents and the Mosque of Minuchir |date=2008 |publisher=Georgia Arts and Cultural Center |location=Tbilissi |url=https://www.academia.edu/1766875/_The_Georgian_Aspects_of_Medieval_Architecture_at_Ani_in_the_Thirteenth_Century_The_Church_of_Tigran_Honents_and_the_Mosque_of_Minuchir_in_D_Tumanishvili_et_al_eds_Georgian_Arts_in_the_Context_of_European_and_Asian_Cultures_Tbilisi_Georgia_Arts_and_Cultural_Center_2009_211_216}}</ref>
==Style== The style of the vault is considered as similar to that of the gavit or ''zhamatun'' of the Church of the Holy Apostles at Ani (built before 1217), suggesting broadly similar dates and circumstances.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Eastmond |first1=Antony |title=Tamta's World: The Life and Encounters of a Medieval Noblewoman from the Middle East to Mongolia |date=1 January 2017 |page=130, note 15 |doi=10.1017/9781316711774.007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |quote=This date is based on the similarity between its stone vaults and those of the zhamatun of the church of the Holy Apostles, which has a terminus ante quem of 1217, determined by the earliest surviving inscription there: Orbeli, Corpus Inscriptionum Armenicarum, no. 56; Basmadjian, Inscriptions armeniennes d’Ani, no. 49.}}</ref>
==Inscriptions== A kufic inscription in a long band on its left façade related to the foundation of the mosque by Manuchihr ibn Shavur, under the government of Seljuk Sultan Malik-Shah I:<ref name="AE">{{cite journal |last1=Eastmond |first1=Antony |title=Inscriptions and Authority in Ani |journal=Der Doppeladler. Byznanz und die Seldschuken in Anatolien vom späten 11. bis zum 13. Jahrhundert, eds. Neslihan Austay-Effenberger, Falko Daim |date=1 January 2014 |page=75-76, Fig.5 |url=https://www.academia.edu/11301668/Inscriptions_and_Authority_in_Ani}}</ref>
{{quote|[In the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful, the construction of this mosque and mi]naret was ordered by the great emir Shuja al-daula Abu Shujā Mīnuchīhr b. Shavūr in the government of our lord, the exalted sultan, the great Shahanshah [the great king of all peoples, ruler of the Arabs and Persians, king of the Ea]st and West, Abu-l Fath Malikshah b. Alp-Arslan…|Foundation inscription of the mosque.<ref name="AE"/>}}
A small trilingual inscription in the bottom left corner reads: {{quote|In Persian (no longer visible): In hejira 635 [1237/1238], the sinner, Zikéria, son of the late...<br> In Georgian [upper two lines]: In koronikon 458 [1238] I, the ''atabeg'' Zakaria, I have confirmed this In Armenian [lowest line]: Those who observe this, may they be blessed by God|Trilingual inscription<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Eastmond |first1=Antony |title=Inscriptions and Authority in Ani |journal=Der Doppeladler. Byznanz und die Seldschuken in Anatolien vom späten 11. bis zum 13. Jahrhundert, eds. Neslihan Austay-Effenberger, Falko Daim |date=1 January 2014 |page=79 |url=https://www.academia.edu/11301668/Inscriptions_and_Authority_in_Ani}}</ref>}}
On top of it are a large Mongol Ilkhanid ''yarligh'' inscription of 1319, a taxation edict.<ref name="AE"/><ref name="VK"/>
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="4"> File:Menucihr Mosque, inside, 1881.jpg|Menucihr Mosque, plan, 1881.<ref name="ALL">{{cite book |last1=Allishar |title=Shirak. Teghagrut'iwn patkerats'oyts' [Illustrated Topographical Study of Shirak] |date=1881 |url=https://archive.org/details/AlishanShirak/page/n70/mode/1up}}</ref> File:Menucihr Mosque, outside, 1881.jpg|Menucihr Mosque, outside, 1881.<ref name="ALL"/> File:Menucihr Mosque, plan, 1881.jpg|Menucihr Mosque, plan, 1881.<ref name="ALL"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Armenian Architecture - VirtualANI - The Mosque of Minuchihr |url=http://virtualani.org/minuchihrmosque/index.htm |website=virtualani.org}}</ref> File:The tri-lingual inscription on the mosque of Mīnuchīhr.jpg|Trilingual inscription File:Interior of Menûçihr Mosque 2.jpg|Column top with ''muqarnas'' design File:Ani Mosque of Manuchihr ceiling with muqarnas.jpg|Ceiling with ''muqarnas'' design, 1072-1086 File:Ani Mosque of Manuchihr ceiling 3597.jpg|Ceiling decoration File:Interior of Menûçihr Mosque 1.jpg|Ceiling decoration </gallery>
== See also == * Spread of Islam among Kurds *Seljuk architecture
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Mosques in Turkey}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1086 Category:Mosques completed in the 1080s Category:Shaddadids Category:Buildings and structures in Kars Province Category:11th-century mosques Category:Seljuk mosques in Turkey Category:Mosque buildings with minarets in Turkey Category:Ani