The Bridge belongs to the Arran architecture school. The first written source that mentioned the 15-arched Khudafarin Bridge belongs to the 14th-century Iranian historian and geographer Hamdullah Mustawfi. He wrote that the bridge was built in 636 by the Arab General Bakr Ibn Abdullah during the campaign of the Arab army in the Eastern Transcaucasia. However, modern historians doubt whether the Arabs were able to wage war and build a bridge at the same time or not. Therefore, it is believed that, most likely, Mustawfi had in mind the organization of the crossing of the Arab army across the Aras using natural rock outcrops. Thus, the construction of the 15-arched Khudafarin Bridge was attributed to the 12th century.

The first description of the 15-arched Khudafarin Bridge was given in the work “the Art of Iran” published in 1938 under the editorship of A. Pope. The work also includes a schematic drawing of the bridge. A. Sadikhzade was the first Azerbaijani scientist to study the Bridge on the spot and perform its visual measurements, publishing the results of research in 1963 in the “History of Azerbaijani architecture”. A detailed study of the remains of the Bridge and its measurements was made in 1974.

The Bridge is usable nowadays, too. Like 11-arched Khudafarin Bridge, the 15-arched Khudafarin Bridge is a universally valuable site due to the world-important historical event, matching the beautiful landscape, high level of engineering performance, etc. Parts of transcontinental roads including the Great Silk Road, the Bridge was useful not only for domestic and international relations but also for those between continents. Directing the migration of different nations and forces in different epochs, the Bridge was also a junction for the Azerbaijan migration, intensive human flows annually moving to form the South to Aran and Karabakh. That is why it is considered to be the greatest and most famous one in the Near and Middle East.

1. “Jabrayil Region”, Armenian Vandalism: Azerbaijani Monuments in Captive. https://www.armenianvandalism.az/en_jabrayil.html.
2. Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Garabakh: The Eternal Memory of Azerbaijan Heritage, (2008), p. 227.
3. Мамед-заде, K.M., Строительное искусство Азербайджана: с древнейших времен до XIX в. (Elm, 1983).