Ancient Shirvan
History
Shamakhi's history spans more than one millennium. It is a chronicle of trade and poetry, of flourishing and earthquakes — and of unfailing rebirth.
Ancient Shirvan
Shamakhi's history spans more than one millennium. It is a chronicle of trade and poetry, of flourishing and earthquakes — and of unfailing rebirth.
Shamakhi was the heart of Shirvan, one of the oldest states of this land. Its fate is the fate of Shirvan itself: wealth, fame and the trials of nature.
History
Shamakhi is one of Azerbaijan's oldest cities and for centuries the capital of Shirvan. Trade routes met here, and the city was famed across the East for its silk, carpets and crafts.
Shamakhi's literary fame even reached Russian poetry: it is called the home of Pushkin's Queen of Shamakhan.
History
The Shamakhi region is highly seismic. The strongest earthquakes of 1667, 1859 and 1902 repeatedly destroyed the city almost entirely. After the 1859 catastrophe the provincial centre was moved to Baku.
And yet Shamakhi rebuilt itself every time — a stubborn mountain city impossible to erase from the map.
Milestones of history
For centuries the main city of Shirvan and the Shirvan khanate.
A crossroads of trade, silk and crafts.
1667, 1859 and 1902 repeatedly destroyed the city.
A literary image that made the city's name famous.
Datings of the ancient history and the earthquakes vary across sources; the most common information is given here.