Architecture-Azerbaijan

Sheki Khan’s Palace is the most important 18^th -century structure in Azerbaijan and a unique architectural monument of the khanate period. It was built in the late 18th century as the ruling Sheki Khan’s summer residence in the northeast of the historic city of Sheki, in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains. The city itself was an important destination on the Great Silk Road, the ancient web of trade routes linking the East and West. Both the Palace and a number of merchant homes show the wealth gained by silkworm farming and the commerce in silk cocoons from China in the late 18th to the 19th centuries. The two-story palace includes spectacular details both inside and out, and its front is covered in artwork depicting hunting and combat themes, as well as sophisticated geometrical and botanical designs. Furthermore, what makes the Sheki Khan Palace unique is the 5,000 wooden and glass details of ‘’Shebeke’’ (there is a large stained-glass window consisting of multi-colored glass mosaics sitting in the center and other smaller windows covered with stone lattices and colorful glass). Azerbaijan craftsmen are famous for this technique of filling wooden lattices with thousands of pieces of colored glass fitted together without glue or nails. In 2019, the Historic Centre of Sheki and the Khan’s Palace were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List of cultural sites.

If you would like to learn more, you can open the following links: https://azerbaijan.travel/take-tour-khans-palace-sheki, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1549, https://www.indiaimagine.com/destinations/heritage-sites/visit-historic-centre-of-sheki-and-khans-palace-at-azerbaijan/

You can also watch a video concerning the art of shebeke, here: https://www.euronews.com/travel/2017/07/14/the-shebeki-at-sheki-khans-palace-in-azerbaijan

Photos taken from: https://azerbaijan.travel/take-tour-khans-palace-shek and https://www.indiaimagine.com/destinations/heritage-sites/visit-historic-centre-of-sheki-and-khans-palace-at-azerbaijan/

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