Dəstəfur Explained

Dəstəfur
Settlement Type:Municipality
Pushpin Map:Azerbaijan
Pushpin Mapsize:300
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Azerbaijan
Subdivision Type1:Rayon
Subdivision Name1:Dashkasan
Population Total:572
Timezone:AZT
Utc Offset:+4
Utc Offset Dst:+5
Coordinates:40.4497°N 46.1708°W

Dəstəfur (also, Dastafyur, Dəstətur, Dostafur, Dastaphour, Dastaphor and Dostafyur) is a village and municipality in the Dashkasan Rayon of Azerbaijan. It has a population of 572. Between 1930 and 2 April 1956, Dashkasan Region was known as the Dastafurski Rayon (Dəstəfur Rayon)[1]

Monuments

On the east of the village, over the Ganja River, is a historic stone bridge thought to date from the later 13th century. A list of Azerbaijan's ancient monuments also states that the village has a bronze age burial mound (kurgan)[2] In a pastoral valley accessible only on foot, are the reasonably intact walls of a ruined 15th-century church, described in Azerbaijani texts as an Albanian Temple (Albanian refers here to Caucasian Albania)[3] [4] or sometimes as Dəstəfur bazilikası[5] A 2017 TV programme filmed a visit to the church ruins.[6]

Notes and References

  1. http://dashkesen-ih.gov.az/page/11.html History of the Dashkasan region (in Azerbaijani)
  2. http://mct.gov.az/medias/media/other/358/mta.pdf Item 951 on the monument list is the Dəstəfur burial mound
  3. https://yazarlar.az/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/AYETXAN-ZIYAD-KONFRANS-MART.pdf Texts of the 4th international Nowruz Conference on Scientific Research, p168-169
  4. http://kataloq.gomap.az/az/all-poi/culture/temple/8e135694d56611e0ad4900226424597d Map showing location of the church site
  5. [:az:Dəstəfur bazilikası|The Dəstəfur bazilikası wiki page in Azerbaijani]
  6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_V7iotFb0Q Visiting the Dəstəfur church ruins - TV footage