Shusha State Historical and Architectural Reserve


Shusha State Historical and Architectural Reserve is an Azerbaijani state reserve and is on the Azeri tentative list of future World Heritage Site located in Shusha district of Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

Historical overview

As a result of unstable political conditions in Caucasus several independent khanates and sultanates emerged. Due to potential dangers of interstate wars, building defensive strongholds were a must.
This served as a reason for emergence of many fortress towns throughout Azerbaijan. The ruler of newly established Karabakh khanate, Panah Ali Khan, founded the town of Panahabad later to be renamed to Shusha.
His other strongholds were the Bayat Castle and Shahbulag Castle. After Russian takeover of the khanate in 1805 according to Kurekchay Treaty and following Treaty of Gulistan and Treaty of Turkmenchay, khanate was abolished and its capital Shusha was turned into a provincial center in 1841. Shusha is located on the top of the mountain, sometimes called "the city on the rock" with three steep precipices and is surrounded by dense woods. The main entrance road facing north towards Ganja was the Ganja Gate.
The peak altitude is 1,600 metres above sea level, the lowest part is 1,300 metres above sea level. The city has a clear view of surrounding areas which rules out any type of sudden attack by invaders.

Architectural and natural attributes

Shusha as well as several other castles in Caucasus was built on the basis of natural conditions in unity of environment and architecture. Shusha was built in three stages. In the first stage was in 1753-1754 when the stronghold's walls, towers and nine districts on the lower eastern part were built. The second stage in 1756-1805 included constructions of eight districts on the upper eastern part of the city and twelve districts on the western side. After incorporation of the territory into Russian Empire, the construction continued on the western side of the plateau, where the Armenian Quarter was established. Since Shusha had limited urban construction in the 20th century, it preserved its historic architectural-planned composition. Shusha has many madrasahs, mosques, natural springs and bath-houses. The mosques of the districts are right-angled like dwelling houses. The mosque buildings were built out of local white stones and minarets were built with baked bricks. Among the most well known mosques of Shusha are Yukhari Govhar Agha Mosque and Ashaghi Govhar Agha Mosque. Shusha was one of the centers of international trade and was a place rich with caravanserais such as Caravanserai of Agha Gahraman Mirsiyab. The city has many Beautiful streets, squares, mosques, mausoleums, churches, springs, castle walls, museums and palaces. The houses of Ibrahim Khalil Khan, Govhar Agha, Khurshidbanu Natavan, Gara Boyuk khanum, Uzeyir Hajibeyov, Bulbul, and Jabbar Garyagdioglu were also here. It is considered the center of Azerbaijani music, culture and architectural excellence of 18th-19th centuries. A Stone-Age cave near Shusha also proves the area had been the residence of earlier civilizations since the ancient times. Labour tools and ceramic dishes from the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Eneolithic, and Bronze and Iron Ages have been found during archeological explorations in the cave. Enriched with mineral water Shusha springs flow into the Dashalty and Halfaly Rivers’ beds in the Dashalty gorge below Shusha.
On 10 August 1977, the town and surrounding area were declared the historical and architectural reserve of Azerbaijan Republic by resolution no. 280.

Current state

1920 Massacre

The Town of Shusha was the largest in Karabakh until the 1920s, when Azerbaijanis Massacred 30,000 Armenians and destroyed huge portions of the city. Buildings like schools, churches, homes, shops, etc. were desecrated and looted. In the 1960s most of the remaining parts of the Armenian portion of the city were bulldozed, with Khrushchev-era buildings like apartment complexes being built on top of them. The legacy of the ethnic cleansing of the city was that over half of the cities architectural heritage was destroyed.

Armenian capture

Shusha was captured by the Armenian military and Karabakh militia forces on May 8, 1992 during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. The war ended in an Armenian victory, with the Nagorno Karabakh Republic gaining independence and annexing seven surrounding regions of Azerbaijan in May 1994. Most of the Azerbaijani architectural monuments such as Mamayi, Mardinli, Taza Mahalla mosques and madrasahs, busts of Natavan, U. Hajibeyov, Bulbul, M.P. Vagif Mausoleum were destroyed and some like Yukhari Govhar Agha, Ashaghi Govhar Agha, Saatli Mosques remain in an abandoned state. However, since the capture many other buildings were repaired such as the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, which was left desecrated and ruined from years of neglect. Funds such as Artsakh and Armenia fund have contributed to the rebuilding efforts.

Notable landmarks