Palace of the Shirvanshahs

The Shirvanshah's Palace

UNESCO World Heritage Site
View of the Palace of the Shirvanshahs
Location	Baku, Azerbaijan
Part of	Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah's Palace and Maiden Tower
Criteria	Cultural: (iv)
Reference	958
Inscription	2000 (24th Session)
Coordinates	40°21′58″N 49°50′00″E / 40.366149°N 49.833443°E / 40.366149; 49.833443
Location of Palace of the Shirvanshahs in Azerbaijan Show map of Azerbaijan Palace of the Shirvanshahs (West and Central Asia) Show map of West and Central Asia

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,^[1] Azerbaijan and, together with the Maiden Tower, forms an ensemble of historic monuments inscribed under the UNESCO World Heritage List of Historical Monuments.^[2] 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.^[3] Earlier, there was an ancient mosque, next to the mausoleum. There are still ruins of the bath to the west of the tomb.^[4]

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.^[5]

There are no inscriptions that survived 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 to establish 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.^[6]

The burial vault, the palace and the mosque are built of the same material, the grating and masonry of the stone are the same.^[7]

The complex used to occupy more area. There were rooms for court servants and services.^[8]

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.^[6]

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.^[9][10]

The palace is depicted on the obverse of the Azerbaijani 10,000 manat banknote of 1994–2006^[11] and of the 10 new manat banknote issued since 2006.^[12]