17 squares, 17 mosques, 17 springs
A pearl of Karabakh, Shusha city is very valuable place for Azerbaijan. So, did you know when and for what purposes this city was built on the cliffs?
Although the founder of Karabakh khanate, Panahali Khan, had built Bayat fortress in 1748, and Shahbulag fortress in 1752, he continued the search for a fortress that would meet the defensive requirements of his time and finally chose a piece of land with favourable landscape, surrounded by the rocks, descending to the riverbeds of Dashalti and Khalfali rivers. The plateau caused the need for defensive structures only on the northern and eastern sides, where natural defence capabilities were weak. In order to maintain the statehood, Panahali khan managed to build a fortified city that met strategic requirements and could withstand the enemy attacks.
The city, which was initially called Panahabad, later, in terms of its strategic location, became known as Shusha fortress. Among 4 gates opened from the defensive walls of the city, Ganja and Iravan gates (as we can see from their name) connected Shusha with Ganja and Iravan khanates, and the other two - Aghoghlan and unnamed fourth gate - with the surrounding villages. Natural landscape of the land determined the location of the fortress walls and towers, as well created a landscape with ascents and descents. The fortress walls, together with arduous hills surrounding the city and the surrounding forests, gave the impression of impregnability.
Interestingly, there were 17 squares, 17 mosques and 17 springs in Shusha. I.e. each square had its own spring and its own mosque. At the same time, each square had its own bath house.
As a result of the betrayal, Shusha city was occupied by the Armenian terrorists in 1992. Shusha has remained under the enemy occupation for exactly 28 years. However, powerful army created by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Ilham Aliyev, liberated our ancient city from the enemy occupation on November 8, 2020. “Shusha operation”, implemented by heroic sons of Azerbaijan, made a noise in the world. Our brave heroes, climbed the cliffs, entered the city from unexpected positions and destroyed the Armenian terrorists.
Today, when the guests of Shusha visiting Jidir duzu, feast eyes upon the cliffs, they admire how the sons of Azerbaijan climbed these cliffs and enter the city.
Great Victory gave Shusha new life and rebirth. The President Ilham Aliyev declared Shusha “Cultural Capital of Azerbaijan”.
Now, the whole Karabakh is united under the shadow of the flag flying in Shusha. The sounds of adhan from the minarets of the mosques in Shusha, delight the souls of our martyrs.
Shusha, with its glorious 271-year history, turns into cultural and diplomatic centre, a venue for civilizational dialogues not only for Azerbaijan, but also for the Caucasus, greater Turkic and Islamic world, and the whole world as a whole.
You can apply for our Shusha tours you want to closely observe and feel the marks of the history.