Khaykaz Proshyan Palace

The Melik Haykaz Palace is a fortified residence in the village of Hüsülü in the Lachin district, built in the fifteenth century for Melik Haykaz I, who governed the local principality of Aghahech-Kashatagh from around 1450 to 1520 as the founder of the Haykazyan branch of the Proshyan princely line. Constructed on a slope and enclosed by a defensive wall with towers and gated entrances, the multi-story building placed Melik Haykaz's living quarters on the ground floor and his reception hall above. Architectural historians have linked its design to an intermediate stage between the palace architecture of Khachen and Vayots Dzor from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries and the later residences built by regional meliks between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The palace underwent restoration work between 1989 and 1992, and part of the complex was later adapted for use as a hotel.