Khan Garden Pavilion

Summer residence of the Shirvanshahs — summer palace of the Shirvanshahs.

Located 2 km from the seashore, on the north‑east side of the village of Nardaran, on a high sandy hill, the summer building occupies a dominant position among the surrounding structures in terms of volume and space. The favorable climate of Nardaran’s seaside, the strategically important geographic location, the proximity of a defensive fortress dating to the 13th–14th centuries, led the Shirvanshahs to consider precisely this area suitable for a recreational zone. Known among the people as “Khan Garden,” it would be more correct to call this building “Shah Garden.” The absence of epigraphic inscriptions on the summer settlement built in the Shirvan‑Absheron architectural school style, its architectural‑plan solution, construction technique and architecture, and its proximity to the palace complex of the Shirvanshahs in Baku’s “Inner City” allow this building to be dated to the 13th–14th centuries. Considering that the emergence of khanates in the territory of northern Azerbaijan coincides with the 17th–18th centuries, it is undeniable that this garden is a “Shah Garden.”

Written sources report that the "Shah Garden" complex consists of buildings; within the surrounding vineyards there are several small auxiliary service rooms, a pool and two water wells. It is likely that the garden area once had a main tiled entrance surrounded by a fence. The façade’s sea‑facing entrance begins with a deep‑tiled rectangular main tile. The tile opening’s frame protrudes slightly from the wall surface and is completed by a cornice surrounding the building. The "Shah Garden" is illuminated from the side walls by simple smooth‑faced façades with three rectangular window openings. Windows placed perpendicularly to the doors stand out with a relatively large area. Currently the garden structure, deprived of doors and windows, according to information from the population, once had doors and windows made of walnut wood, a fine decorative carving work, which turned it into an integral part of the surrounding landscape.

The residential building of the "Shah Garden" is centered by a rectangular sunshade. Such a covering system, typical of religious buildings on the Absheron Peninsula, at first glance makes the dwelling resemble a mosque. All façades of the building are remembered for their undecorated, simple solution. Stone balusters regulate the flow of rainwater, giving the façade relative richness.

The architectural‑plan structure of the monumental building is based on a square, with the sides measuring 14 m. The building attracts attention with its laconic geometric solid volume, strict architectural form and precise solution of the interior space. The plan solution begins with the entrance leading to a square‑based hall. The four rooms in the corners of the hall have caused its cruciform plan structure. Today, the plan structure is found in a number of mosques of Absheron that draw on ancient Albanian monuments (the Tuba‑Shahi mosque in Mardakan – 14th century, the Haji Ramazan mosque in Qala village – 18th century, the 17th‑century mosque in Keşlə, the Shirvanshah mosque) which have adopted this type of plan solution. Such mosque buildings are also characteristic of the northern regions of Azerbaijan and are widespread.

The two‑storey corner rooms of the “Shah garden” are united with a single‑storey hall, completing it. The axial vaulted entrances to the rooms find their solution on symmetric axes in the interior composition of the building. The corner locations are covered with small domes on which the trompes rest. The domes are octagonal in the southern locations and circular, smoothly constructed in the northern directions.

The hall attracts attention with its simple solution. The central dome‑structured covering system has been achieved through the effort of simple stalactites and the constructive load‑bearing of four axial vaults. The central circular pool in the interior spreads a mild oasis around, and according to information provided by the population, it has served as an entrance to underground tunnels extending toward the direction (the sea, the fortress and the Nardaran tower). From the building, a circular, waterless well 30 sazhen deep and three sazhen deep in the south‑west direction is located, with underground passages leading west and east. According to legend, this is part of an underground road from the khan’s garden leading to the tower and the tower.

Thirty sajen apart from the first well, in the South‑West direction there is a second well with a depth of 6 arşın, the upper part square‑projecting, size 1,581.25 arşın. From this well a passageway road of 3 arşın height and width equal to 14 verska leads to the first well. From the same well a second road goes toward the South, opposite to the residence: after entering and covering a distance of 20 arşın the road is cut off because it is covered with a soil cliff.

According to information given by a number of travelers, especially Abdurrashid Bakuvin, Berezin, etc., garden constructions are characteristic of the Absheron Peninsula. Another structure called “Khan garden” has also been recorded in the village of Buzovna. The traveler I. N. Berezin, while in Baku in 1842, reported the existence of the Khan garden together with a palace in Buzovna and called this quarter “Khan quarter”, but according to the research of architect Professor Ş. S. Fatullayev this garden did not belong to the Shirvan shahs but to Mirza Muhammad Khan, the great‑grandfather of Abbasgulu Agha Bakikhanov, a prominent Azerbaijani statesman of the 18th century.

Summer residences built by wealthy persons on the Absheron Peninsula acquired a larger scale at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century at the expense of oil millionaires. These villas, created from a synthesis of European and Eastern architecture and possessing richly decorated interiors, underwent a great development in architectural‑plan layout, construction and building technique, yet among the Absheron garden residences the summer construction of the Shirvan shahs in Nardar stands out for its simplicity and grandeur.

Near the "Şah bağının" there is also the "Şah hamamı" that served the shah. The bath belongs to medieval bath types, being built low on the ground surface and having a large volume-space capacity. Currently, during the natural investigation of the building whose interior and top are covered with sand, several domes and an entrance area of the bath have been discovered.