Sheki Khans Palace

It is known that the palace was built in the XVIII century ^{[8] [9]} . Sandor Rado noted that the palace was erected in 1760 by Hussein Khan, and was soon rebuilt ^[2] . The art encyclopedia relates the palace to 1761/62 ^[10] . The Azerbaijani Soviet Encyclopedia also refers the palace to the 60s of the 18th century and notes that it was built by Huseyn Khan Mushtag ^[11] .

In ESB , it is noted that the palace and the fortress were built at the same time in 1765 ^[12] . The Britannic of the 1890 edition writes that in 1765 a fortress was erected, and the palace was built somewhat later than this date ^[13] , published in 1911, the Britannic writes that - in 1790 ^[3] . Konstantinov in the article "Nuha" ^{[approx. 4]} also wrote that the palace was built in 1790. But in the same year, in contrast to this date, he noted that the monument was built in 1797 by the blind Mamed-Hasan Khan ^[14] . The Russian local historian I. L. Segal also noted that the palace was built in 1797 under Mamed Hasan Khan, cost over 32 thousand chervontsy and completely exhausted the Khan's treasury, and was also copied, according to legend, from one of the summer palaces of the Persian Shah ^[15] . He also wrote that shortly after the construction, Mammad Hasan Khan was deprived of his sight by the libel of the Persian Shah Mustafa-agoy, while the Khan was blinded in 1795/96 (1206) ^[14] .

According to later researchers, the palace was built in 1797 ^{[16] [17] by the} architect Hadali Zeynal-Abdin from Shiraz ^{[18] [19]} (according to Konstantinov - “Haji Zeynal Abdin” ^[14] , according to I. S. Segal - Haji Zeynal Abdulom ^[15] ). According to the historian of architecture M. A. Useinov, the date of construction of the palace is limited by time from 1762 to 1797 ^[16] . He notes that the palace was completed by Mamed-Hasan Khan ^[20] (Muhammad Hasan Khan) ^[16] , the great-grandson of the founder of the Sheki Khanate, Haji Celebi Khan . M. A. Useinov noted that in this Khan’s palace “the most characteristic features of the palaces of the 18th century are most clearly represented” ^[20] .

According to Farsi manuscripts entitled “Maddei Tariq” (the author, judging by the handwriting, presumably Salman Mumtaz ), collected and translated in 1979 at the Institute of Manuscripts named after Fizuli , the construction of the palace began in 1204 of the Hijra ( 1789/90 ). In the same manuscripts it is noted that in the month of Ramadan 1240 g. (April - May 1825 ) a fire occurred in the palace ^[21] . In these manuscripts, the palace is also referred to as the “sofa”, that is, the building of the city court. The fact that the palace, being the dwelling of the khan, also served as a courthouse, writes a 19th-century Russian journalist Nikolai Bersenov ^[22] . Sometimes the palace is also referred to as the summer residence of the khan ^[23] .

From the complex erected in the Sheki fortress and consisting of several structures, only a two-story palace has survived to date ^[11] . The building of the palace from the moment of construction has undergone many repairs and rebuilds, which did not seriously affect its appearance ^[18] . After the annexation of the Sheki Khanate to the Russian Empire, the palace was under the jurisdiction of the local administration and was repeatedly renovated ^[15] . In 1848 - 1851 , the grandson of Huseyn Khan Mushtag, the poet Kerim ag Fatehi, carried out the restoration of the palace ^[11] .

In 1853, a plan of the citadel was drawn up, according to which a significant number of structures for various purposes for families of the khanate nobility were housed in it ^[17] . In the fortress, in addition to the palace, there were barracks, a treasury, a prison, and an Orthodox church converted from a Khan’s mosque in 1828 ^[15] . The original murals of the palace left a deep impression on travelers ^[24] . The palace was described by Alexander Dumas , Alexander Kornilovich , Andrey Fadeev , Arnold Zisserman , it was mentioned by Leo Tolstoy , Nikolai Raevsky , Ilya Berezin , Elise Reclus and others.

In the Soviet years, the "Palace of Sheki Khans" acquired the status of a museum ^[25] .

On April 25, 1921, the plenum of the Azrevkom discussed the issue of “correcting the Khan’s palace” and decided: “The correction of the Khan’s Palace, according to the previous resolution of the Azrevkom, remains with the People’s Commissariat . Open another 25 million rubles. on account of the People’s Commissariat for the correction of the Khan’s Palace in Shusha and Nuha ” ^[26] . At the meeting of the commission at the All-Union Academy of Architecture , architect P. Baranovsky prepared a report on the review of the restoration project of the Khan's Palace dated March 13, 1939 ^[27] .

In 1945, an orientalist and art critic L. S. Brittanytsky wrote a candidate dissertation on the palace, completing which, he turned to art historian B.V. Weimarn as an art critic who published an article specifically dedicated to this, as Weimarn writes, “an outstanding architectural and artistic a monument to Azerbaijan of the 18th century ” ^[28] .

In 1946, Konstantinov wrote in an article “Nuha”: “This magnificent palace is the top of the luxury and taste of Persian architects, was built in 1790 by a Shiraz resident Haji Zeynal Abdin” ^[14] .

The poet N. Tikhonov, who visited the city in 1947, gives a description of the palace in his autobiographical story, "Ways and Roads":

In the 50s. restoration work was carried out in the palace ^[31] . On the work of restoration artist I. A. Baranov, art critic V. Antonova writes that “on the wall paintings of the 18th century in the khan’s palace in Nuha, whimsical colorful scenes of battles came to life under his hands, similar to a noisy oriental holiday” ^[32] . In 1955 - 1965 extensive restoration work was carried out according to the project and under the guidance of architect N. G. Rzayev , the artist F. Gadzhiev, shebekist A. Rasulov worked in the palace ^[11] .

In 1968, the historical part of the city of Yukhara Bash, where the palace is located, was declared a historical and architectural conservation zone ^[33] .

On October 24, 2001, the palace, along with the historical part of the city, was presented as a candidate for UNESCO World Heritage List ^[33] . In September 2002, within the framework of the project “Protection of Cultural Heritage”, the restoration of the palace was started ^[34] . On August 1, 2010, the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova , during her official visit to Azerbaijan, having visited Sheki, also visited the palace of Sheki khans ^[35] .

July 4, 2012 in the city of Sheki celebrated the 250th anniversary of the palace. The celebration was attended by about 30 representatives of foreign embassies and international organizations, famous figures of science, culture and art of the republic, deputies of the Milli Majlis ^[36] .

The description of the general architectural ensemble of the palace is found in Major General F. Akhverdov and State Counselor Mogilevsky “Descriptions of the Sheki Province” ( Tiflis , 1866), compiled in 1819 by order of the Commander-in-Chief in Georgia Ermolov . In comparison with this description, you can find out the previous purpose of a number of buildings of the palace ^[16] . Having visited these parts, General N. N. Raevsky in 1826 wrote: "... There is a palace of the former khans of this region, which is very beautiful and of which the Bakhchisarai palace gives only a weak idea ..." ^[37] .

Decembrist A. Kornilovich who visited the city in early August 1834 wrote a letter from Cuba to his brother . Noting in a letter that until 1828 the Sheki region had its khans, he describes the palace as follows:

Having served since 1846 in the Transcaucasian Territory A.M. Fadeev , describing the city in his memoirs, he writes about the palace, its exterior and interior decoration, ornaments, bas-reliefs and oriental paintings, which are “quite clearly preserved, with images of Persian horsemen and Asian battles ” ^[39] . In August 1849, the writer A. Zisserman visited Nuhu (the official name of the city until 1968 ). Talking about the city, he writes about the palace. He notes that marble fountains surrounded by weeping willows, multi-colored glass, stucco decorations on fireplaces, carvings on doors and window frames “remind of Khan's luxury and the former splendor of the palace” ^[40] .

The palace was mentioned by I. N. Berezin in the book “Journey through Dagestan and the Transcaucasus” ^[41], published in 1850. A description of the palace is given by Divan-Beck in the 22nd issue of the Kavkaz newspaper from 1852 ^[42] . Some information about the palace is given by A. Dumas, who was in the city at the end of 1858 . So, telling about a meeting with Major Mohammed Khan, who “was born in the palace”, was the grandson of the “last Nukha khan” and “began to be in this palace after the arrival of the great princes, ” Dumas describes the palace itself, which was “ in the power of Russians ... only since 1827 ":

The military historian General V. Potto, in a book written by him at the end of the 19th century, The Caucasian War , describing the capture of the capital of the Sheki Khanate by the Russians, also mentions the Khan's palace. He calls the palace “an example of the dwelling of an eastern sybarite ” and writes that everything is done in a “bizarre, original Persian taste: marble fountains surrounded by weeping willows, multi-colored glasses in narrow windows, and ceilings made up of pieces of mirrors and wondrous stucco works adorning cornices, doors, windows, fireplaces ” ^[45] .

In the ninth edition of the Britons of 1890, the Nukha article also refers to this palace. The encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron, published in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, writes of the palace as follows: “Fortifications and a Khan's palace in the Persian style, built in 1765 by Sheki khans” ^[12] . The Khan's palace is mentioned in the story of Leo Tolstoy "Hadji Murad" ^[46] . The palace is mentioned by the French historian and geographer Elise Reclus in his book The Earth and Its Inhabitants: Asiatic Russia: Caucasia, Aralo-Caspian Basin, Siberia (1878) ^[47] . The British journalist Henry Norman, in his article “Russia of To-Day,” describing the “carpeted” shop of Tiflis , writes about a brocade from the “palace of the ancient khans of Nuhi, formerly a vassal of Persia” ^[48] . The Russian local historian I. L. Segal wrote ^[14] that in 1797 under Mamed-Hasan-khan a “magnificent khan's palace for that time” was built, costing over 32 thousand chervonets and completely exhausting the Khan's treasury. He also noted that the builder of the palace was the famous Persian architect, a Shiraz resident of Haji Zeynal-Abdul, and that the palace, according to legend, was copied from one of the summer palaces of the Persian Shah ^[15] .

The length of the building is 31.7 meters, width - 8.5, height - 10 meters. The height of each floor is 3.35 meters. Both on the facade and in the planned solution, the composition of the palace building is symmetrical. Vertical top floor also repeats the layout of the lower. The premises are located along the longitudinal axis in one row. In the center of each floor is a hall with an alcove , which is believed to have served for receptions. On the sides of the hall are two smaller rooms, separated by small corridors. As for the purpose of these premises, it is believed that they were intended for secondary guests ^[49] .

On a rather large territory of the Sheki fortress (about 6 hectares) no buildings serving the palace were preserved, except for the mosque . There are also doubts that the palace and the stone walls enclosing it were built at the same time ^[49] . The walls of the palace stand on foundations from 40 to 60 cm wide, composed of coarsely-paved cobblestones in a mortar of lime. Wall material - burnt brick, 20 x 20 x 4 cm in size ^[17] .

Judging by the nature of the masonry of the walls of the building, the various wall materials on the first and second floors and the completely unsatisfactory organization of communication between the floors, it is believed that the palace was originally conceived as a one-story building and only the second floor was subsequently built on. However, it is also noted that the facade architecture was not affected by the superstructure, and the building looks solid and finished ^[49] .

On the main (southern) facade, the architect clearly identified the number of storeys of the building and its internal layout. The entrances are underlined by niches with stalactite vaults . On the second floor above them is a loggia with the same overlap, additionally, as noted, emphasizing both entrances. The niches of the entrances are combined in height with wide vertical stripes of a flat ornament. They highlight the middle of the building with a series of stained glass windows of large halls ^[49] . The architectural composition of the main facade clearly reflects the internal planning structure of the palace. On the southern facade, middle halls, side rooms and hallways are allocated ^[17] .

The architecture of the building has many relatively close analogies. This is an architectural and artistic circle stylistically associated with the Yerevan Palace of Serdar and the late Safavi garden and park pavilions, and genetically with the residential architecture of Sheki, where the intermediate links are preserved, an example of which is a nearby copy of the reception rooms - the Shekikhanovs house ^[18] .

The composition of the palace plan is simple - three rooms, located in one row, are separated from each other by hallways. Large halls with deep niches (one wide and two narrow), which are the front rooms of the palace, are located on two floors. The large ground floor hall served as a venue for official receptions.

The tympans of the arches of the lower tier are filled with an ornament of a complex floral design made using the sgraffito technique . The plafond of the ground floor hall is made of different wooden elements representing a geometric ornament.

In the palace building, the walls, window openings of the halls and rooms are filled with removable stained - glass windows - “shebeke” . Geometrically, shebeke windows with colored glass filling them, as noted, are combined with the general composition of the main facade of the palace. On the facade of the palace there are continuous stained-glass windows on the central halls and side rooms, and between them deep lancet niches of entrance portals and loggias-balconies sparkling with mirror stalactites. The shebeke pattern was created by folk craftsmen from small wooden parts without glue and nails ^[17] . It is believed that the fact that the outer walls of the halls of both floors and upper rooms are replaced by lifting binders-stained-glass windows is a feature of the architecture of this ceremonial pavilion ^[18] .

Murals occupy all planes of walls, niches, stalactite transitions from walls to a ceiling, as well as ceiling lamps in the halls of both floors and rooms of the second floor. The murals of the palace consist of four groups: geometric and plant drawings, plot murals and murals, where bird motifs are composed in plant motifs ^[49] . The murals of the palace are also characterized by the widespread use of golden color. The color scheme is based on the application of murals of local tones, made, like all murals of this period, by egg tempera in plaster gesso . Here, mainly golden, turquoise, blue, red, purple and yellow colors were used ^[11] .

The main facade is richly decorated. Geometric and floral ornaments, arches with stalactites, stained glass windows with shebeke filigree work and colored glazing made “in color” using sgraffito and colored relief plaster give the facade of the palace an unusually festive look ^[49] . It should be noted the panel of the lower floor with stylized images of the once sacred birds - peacocks facing the “tree of life” located in the center ^[18] .

Inside the palace, the rooms are also completely ornamented and painted; niches (tahcha), Bukhara , ceilings, stalactite cornices, lighting through multi-colored glass of patterned shebek-stained-glass windows - all this creates the interior of a magnificent palace choir. It is believed that the architect masterfully managed with a small floor height (only 3.35 m) with decorative means to create the illusion of high rooms ^[49] .

Interior paintings are diverse at the same time - from “Frankish” (meaning European ) masters who survived in the stalactites of the lower chamber ceiling to murals from the beginning of the 20th century , made by the famous master - Ust Gambar , his brother Safar and son Shukyur from Shushi , as well as Ali Cooley, Kurban Kuli and Jafar from Shemakha , the mouth of Abbas Ali, up to an open lubok ^[18] .

The most ancient murals date back to the 18th century, including paintings on the ceiling of the upper floor by Abbas Kuli. It is believed that Abbas-Quli, whose name was preserved on the walls of the palace, was the architect of the palace ^[11] . The paintings on the ground floor were created in 1895/96 by Mirza Jafar from Shemakha, and on the top floor - in 1902 Usta Gambar from Shusha. Artist Ali Quli and Kurban Quli from Shemakha worked mainly on the top floor ^[50] .

Murals created by folk artists are mainly located in two halls of both floors and in two extreme rooms of the second floor.

• Azerbaijan architecture
• Sheki Khanate

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• Weimarn B. Murals of the Palace Museum in the city of Nuh. - No. 3. - Moscow - Leningrad: Art, 1938.
• Yenikolopov I. Nukhinsky Palace. Scientific archive of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR. inv. No. 1023, 6. - 1940.
• Skubchenko G. M. On the state of the Khan's palace in the city of Nuha. - “Monuments of architecture of Azerbaijan. Collection of materials. " Moscow - Baku, 1946.
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• Brittany L.S. Palace of the Sheki Khans. The architecture of Azerbaijan. - Baku, 1952.
• Miklashevskaya N.M. Wall paintings of Azerbaijan of the 18-19th centuries. - The art of Azerbaijan. — Баку, 1954. — Т. 4. — С. 52—83.

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