2020 | Building Peace through Heritage
German architecture of Azerbaijan
Sabina Hajiyeva 1
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Azerbaijan University of Architecture and Construction , Baku , Azerbaijan , sabina . hajiyeva @ azmiu . edu . az , sabiks13 @ yahoo . com ,
Abstract : After the conquest of the North Azerbaijan by the Russian Empire in the early 19 th century , tsarist regime faced the necessity of strengthening its dominance among the local Muslim population . Therefore , great number of Christian families was relocated to the territory of Azerbaijan . Some families of immigrants from the German Württemberg were sent to Azerbaijan in 1819 . German immigrants kept their cultural traditions carefully establishing settlements on new territories . In the 90s of the 19 th century there were several industrial factories of “ Forer Brothers ” and “ Hummel Brothers ” built in eight existed German settlements . Alongside with industrial buildings , new residential and religious buildings differing in their architectural compositions were built also . German architects also influenced on peculiar architectural and planning development and individual appearance of Baku of the 19 th - early 20 th centuries . Together with local and other invited foreign architects they made it possible to create buildings for various purposes , in different styles using local architectural traditions and European techniques . Fortunately , residential buildings , churches , factories built by them at that time have been preserved to this day . The article considers various aspects of the formation of German architecture in Azerbaijan , as well as conservation of their peculiarities and use today .
Keywords : German architecture , German settlements in Azerbaijan , preservation of tangible and intangible heritage
Introduction
To understand and appreciate the contribution of German architects into the development of Azerbaijani architecture , it is necessary first to consider the historical and social factors as well as architectural development preceding this .
After the conquest of the North Azerbaijan by the Russian Empire in the early 19 th century , tsarist regime faced the necessity of strengthening its dominance among the local Muslim population . To achieve these goals and further develop the resources of the region , the Russian autocracy needed to create a reliable socio-political , economic and ethnic support in the region . Muslim Azerbaijan , surrounded by powerful countries practicing the same religion , raised serious concerns , and therefore it was decided to relocate Christian families to the newly captured territory of Azerbaijan . The tsarist authorities carried out a purposeful resettlement of Armenians and Russians , which led to serious demographic changes in this territory . Number of German colonists was then relocated as well . The first settlements of immigrants from the southern regions of Germany began to move to Azerbaijan at the beginning of the 19 th century . At that time Germany faced the difficult political situation that contributed to the strengthening of migration processes . So , in 1819 , some families of immigrants from the German Württemberg , located in the southern part of Germany , were moved to Azerbaijan . Numbers of the residential buildings , churches , plants built by them in that period have been preserved nowadays . By the beginning of the 20 th century , eight German colonies already existed in the country : Helenendorf , Annenfeld , Georgesfeld , Alekseevka , Grünfeld , Eygenfeld , Traubenfeld , Yelizavetinka . They were created in the Goygol , Shamkir , Gazakh , Tovuz , Agstafa regions ( mainly on the territory of the old Azerbaijani villages ) ( Yunitskiy , A . I ., 1906 , p . 19 ).
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