The Shirvanshahs’ Palace (Şirvanşahlar sarayı in Azerbaijani) is Azerbaijan’s most important architectural monument.
It is located on the highest hill in Icheri Sheher (Old City) in Baku and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.
In the 15th century, the Shirvanshah dynasty, under the reign of Ibrahim I of Shirvan, moved its capital from Shemakha to Baku and commissioned the construction of the palace in 1411.
After the Safavids conquered Baku in 1501, the Shirvanshah dynasty was expelled from the country, and the palace lay in ruins for several centuries.
Today, the palace complex is used as a museum exhibit featuring objects used and worn in the Middle Ages in areas of present-day Azerbaijan.
The complex is built entirely of local limestone and is divided into three courtyards arranged at different levels depending on the terrain.
The main entrance portal leads directly from the courtyard to the second floor, into a hall with a high, domed vault. A small octagonal vestibule, located at the back of the hall, connects the rest of the palace’s living quarters.
The Shirvanshahs’ Palace complex includes several structures, such as:
- Main Palace: a two-story residential structure that housed the royal family’s living quarters and reception rooms.
- Divanhane: a domed pavilion supported by arches, used as a court and hall for state assemblies.
- Tomb of the Shirvanshahs: a vaulted burial crypt where King Khalilullah I was buried with his family.
- Palace Mosque: characterized by an imposing medieval minaret.
- Baths (Hammam): underground remains of the ancient public bathhouse, revealing an advanced heating system for the time.
In the complex’s inner courtyard, a wall bears bullet holes from the violent clashes of 1918.
The 1918 Baku clashes can be divided into two main episodes during World War I: the collapse of the Russian Empire and the birth of the Transcaucasian republics. These events marked the beginning of a long ethnic and cultural struggle for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
