Palace of the Shirvanshahs

The Palace of the Shirvanshahs (Azerbaijani: Şirvanşahlar Sarayı, Persian: کاخ شروان‌شاهان) is a 15th-century palace built by the Shirvanshahs and described by UNESCO as "one of the pearls of Azerbaijan's architecture". It is located in the Inner City of Baku, Azerbaijan and, together with the Maiden Tower, forms an ensemble of historic monuments inscribed under the UNESCO World Heritage List of Historical Monuments. The complex contains the main building of the palace, Divanhane, the burial-vaults, the shah's mosque with a minaret, Seyid Yahya Bakuvi's mausoleum (the so-called "mausoleum of the dervish"), south of the palace, a portal in the east, Murad's gate, a reservoir and the remnants of a bath house. Earlier, there was an ancient mosque, next to the mausoleum. There is still ruins of the bath to the west of the tomb.

In the past, the palace was surrounded by a wall with towers and, thus, served as the inner stronghold of the Baku fortress. Despite the fact that at the present time no traces of this wall have survived on the surface, as late as the 1920s, the remains of apparently the foundations of the tower and the part of the wall connected with it could be distinguished on the north-eastern side of the palace.

There are no inscriptions that survive on the palace itself. Therefore, the time of its construction is determined by the dates in the inscriptions on the architectural monuments, which refer to the complex of the palace. Such two inscriptions were completely preserved only on the tomb and minaret of the Shah's mosque. There is the name of the ruler who ordered the establishment of these buildings in both inscriptions is the – Shirvan Khalil As time of construction – was marked on the tomb, 845 on the minaret of the Shah's mosque.

The burial vault, the palace and the mosque are built of the same material, the grating and masonry of the stone are the same.

The complex originally occupied a larger area and included rooms designated for court servants and various service functions.

The main buildings of the ensemble were built at different times. Despite this fact, these buildings are linked by unity of scale, by rhythm and proportionality of the basic architectural forms – cubic volumes of buildings, domes, portraits. The builders of the ensemble relied on the traditions of the Shirvan-Absheron architectural school.

In 1964, the palace complex was declared a museum-preserve and taken under the protection of the state. In 2000, this ensemble, along with the fortified walls of the historic part of the city and the Maiden Tower, was named a World Heritage Site.

The palace is depicted on the obverse of the Azerbaijani 10,000 manat banknote of 1994–2006 and of the 10 new manat banknote issued since 2006.

History

In the 15th century the Shirvanshah dynasty, under Ibrahim I of Shirvan, transferred his capital from Shemakha to Baku following a devastating earthquake. He committed himself to the construction of the "palace". The building is believed to be a memorial complex built around the sacred place of worship (pir) and tomb of Seyyid Yaxya Bakuvi, who was a Helwati Sufi saint. The Shirvanshahs were patrons of the Helwati Sufiye order, and Shirvanshah Khalilullah I was buried with his family in the grounds of the palace. Other historians argue that the building was used as the ruler's palace. Both theories suffer from the absence of evidence. It is known that wells inside the grounds of the "palace" were considered to have healing qualities until recent times, as was the hill where the palace was built.

After the Safavid conquest of Baku in 1501, the Sufi order was expelled. Over centuries, the "palace" fell into ruin and was known in Baku as Baku Khans palace; this toponym moved into Russian historiography, first cited by Bartold.

Until 1501, there was not any information found about the building of the palace. According to one of the Persian chronicles, in 1501 the troops of Shirvanshakh Farrukh-yessar, the son Khalil-ully I, were defeated in Shemakha by the troops of Shah Ismail I from the Safavid dynasty. Farrukh-yessar was killed in the Battle of Shirvanshah; the troops of Ismail I, having defeated near Shemakha, moved to Baku, besieged it and after several assaults took the city. Then, a tall building of Shirvanshahs was destroyed due to the order of Shah Ismail I. After a while, the city of Baku and its entire district, as well as Shirvan, were governed by the governors who were placed by the Safavids. There is not any detailed information about the people who lived in the palace and in what state it was in the first half of the 16th century.

In the second half of the 16th century, there was a war between the Safavids and the Ottoman Empire. In 1578, the Turks conquered Baku. From the time of the rule of the Ottoman Empire in the palace area, the gate in the palace wall surrounding the palace from the east has been preserved. From the inscription placed on the portal of this gate, it follows that they were built during the reign of the Turkish sultan Murad III (1574–1595 years of rule).

Due to the literary works, there were Turkish pashas living in the palace at that time. The East Gate is a witness of this.

Since the 17th century, the palace was empty, and there were not any government officials. The abbot of the monastery and the representative of the Isfahan mission, Capuchin Pater Raphael du Mans in his essay in 1660 described Shirvanshah Palace in Baku fortress and gave information about its desolation and destruction. In 1723, Baku was besieged by the troops of Peter I, and the city was bombed. In this regard, the south-eastern facades of the palace suffered much. The palace was transferred to the Russian military department in the middle of the 19th century.