Gurjulu Mausoleum in Gubadli

The mausoleum is located in the cemetery in the village of Gurjulu, Gubadli District of Azerbaijan
[General history of Architecture in 12 volumes. Architecture of Mediterranean, African and Asian countries. 5th-19th centuries. Volume 8. p. 415]
[War and our historic-cultural monuments. 2006, p. 55]

The mausoleum was built in the 17th-18th centuries. The architect who built the monument is unknown.
[M. Useynov. L. Bretanitskiy. A. Salamzadeh. Architectural history of Azerbaijan. 1963, p. 278]
[A.V. Salamzadeh. Azerbaijani architecture in the 16th-19th centuries, 1964, p. 53]

The mausoleum has an octagonal shape and is covered with a tent-shaped dome. The entrance to the mausoleum is in the form of a small relief portal. The deepening in the wall opposite the entrance door is shaped like a tombstone. The position of tombstone, the location of the entrance door and the orientation of the tomb towards the qibla (the direction to the Kaaba in Mecca) indicate that the tomb and the surrounding cemetery belong to Muslims.

Due to a number of features, the monument is known as a unique octagonal tomb:
“This is a unique arrangement of the transition from its main architectural mass to the tent-shaped roof. The architect created an original trompe construction based on the stalactite form that ensures a smooth transition from the octagonal plan to the sixteen-cornered tent-shaped dome. The completely independent interpretation of the architect’s “tectonic boundary tent” – the transition of the cornice to the tent – gave the mausoleum great unique features. In the architect`s decision, each side of the tent corresponds to the composition nodes of the trump-shaped cornice. This solution organically connects the two parts of the tomb – the body and the dome. In addition, the architectural tools used here determined the plasticity and shape softness of the monument. The architect succeeded in softening the strict geometric form of octagonal tombs with the octagonal tent.”  
[War and our historic-cultural monuments. 2006, p. 55]
[M. Useynov. L. Bretanitskiy. A. Salamzadeh. Architectural history of Azerbaijan. 1963, p. 277-278]
[A.V. Salamzadeh. Azerbaijani architecture in 16th-19th centuries, 1964, p. 52-53]

 İn 1993, when Gubadli District of Azerbaijan was occupied by the armed forces of Armenia, the mausoleum was subjected to armenian vandalism.