Shusha fortress Stepanakert. Shusha fortress
The first information about the fortified city of Shushi was reported by the Arab geographer Yakut al-Amawi (1178-1229). Referring to the famous Arab historian Ibn al-Asiri (1160-1230), in his “Geographical Dictionary” he writes: “Karkar is a city in Arran, near Baylakan, built by Anushirvan.” Baylakan was one of the ancient cities of Arran (north-eastern part of Armenia), located in the province of Artsakh - Mukhank. The Greek geographer Strabo also mentions Baylakan. It is known that the Persian king Anushirvan (VI century), whose possessions covered the eastern half of Armenia (later divided with Byzantium), rebuilt several fortresses in order to strengthen the north of the empire. He is also credited with strengthening Derbent and installing iron gates. As for Karkar, Shushi, by the expression “built”, the geographer meant strengthening the fortress walls and towers. It is well known that the Persian reformer Anushirvan was a collective image, to whom many deeds were usually attributed that he did not commit. The evidence of famous Arab authors only confirms that it was the 6th century. The fortress city of Karkar was rebuilt (an Armenian word that means “stone on stone”, or “fortress on stone”). The preservation of the Armenian name of the fortress after the restructuring also proves that even before the time of Anushirvan, the Karkar fortress was alive and well, protecting the North-Eastern borders of Armenia. And the Karkar River received its name from the famous fortress and sacredly preserved it to this day. Kalankatvatsi, describing the battle of 821 in the Shikakar fortress (red stone) between the Arabs and the army of the Artsakh prince from the Bagratid family Sagl Smbatyan. House of Muratsan in Shushi (C) 2006 Bakur Karapetyan Armenian historiographer of the 13th century. Kirakos Gandzaketsi in his
There is a city in Nagorno-Karabakh that could easily be an important center of attraction for tourists from all over the world. Surely even he could qualify for a place on the UNESCO World Heritage List. But he has been chronically unlucky for the last century.
His name in Armenian Shushi, and in Azerbaijani Shusha. Not a big difference, but a very important one for many. Once upon a time, both of these peoples existed here peacefully and then this city flourished. But then something went wrong and luck turned away from this place.
2.
At this point I was torn by opposite feelings. Here nearby you could see the most interesting historical monuments, poor buildings of the Soviet period, unusual abandoned buildings and beautiful nature. This city simultaneously reminded me of Italian Matera, Bosnian and Ukrainian Pripyat.
3.
Shushi is located in a luxurious location - on a mountain hill 11 kilometers from the current capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, the city of Stepanakert, which Azerbaijanis call Khankendi. Shushi is surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs and deep canyons, and for a long time it was possible to get here along practically the only road.
4.
People have lived here since time immemorial, but the city appeared only a little over 250 years ago. The place for it was chosen correctly. In summer it is not too hot here, and nature itself protected the city from uninvited guests. Therefore, both Armenians and Tatars settled here with pleasure.
5.
More than a hundred years ago, 60 thousand people lived here, including, in addition to Armenians and Azerbaijanis, Russians, Kurds, Lezgins and even Germans and French, and the city itself was the administrative center of the entire Karabakh region. Now it is essentially a remote suburb of Stepanakert with a population of 4 thousand and many dilapidated, abandoned buildings. Moreover, many of these ruins are architectural and historical monuments.
6.
Compared to Stepanakert, which was completely rebuilt and maintained after the war, for the most part Shushi looks as if the war ended only a month ago. No, of course, they are trying to put the city in order little by little. But this is done too slowly and not very successfully.
7.
Most of the city remains abandoned to this day. Even more surprising is the fact that Shushi was severely destroyed by the Armenians themselves, and after the Azerbaijani population had left here. In order to understand why this ancient city was destroyed, it is worth knowing its long-suffering history.
8.
Azerbaijanis and Armenians are trying to interpret its history in their own way. The fact remains that the Shusha fortress was founded here, or rather, the ancient fortifications were rebuilt in 1752 by the Karabakh khan Panah-Ali. Moreover, his ally, the Armenian melik (or prince) Shakhnazar, helped him in this. So, in fact, Shushi was originally a place of residence of two peoples and religions.
True, Armenians and Tatars settled in different areas of the rapidly growing city, but for the time being they lived quite peacefully and amicably.
9.
Since 1805, Shushi became part of the Russian Empire, and a little later, Russian troops here heroically withstood a 40-day siege by the powerful Persian army. Since then, Shushi has become an important military and cultural center of the entire region.
Music and religious schools, centers of trade and carpet weaving were founded in Shushi. In 1896, a theater was built here, and a decade later a large real school was founded, whose building has survived to this day, although in a very abandoned state.
11.
At one time, 22 newspapers were published in the city, and many famous writers, artists and musicians were local natives. Then even Shushi had a second name - “The Singing City”.
Unfortunately, imperial policy has always been based on the principles of “divide and conquer.” The Russian authorities in the city benefited from the confrontation between the Armenians and the Tatars. Religious enmity always smolders for a long time, but flares up in seconds. In 1905, bloody clashes began between Armenians and Tatars throughout the territory of present-day Azerbaijan. In Shusha they ended in massacres, with pogroms and arson in both ethnic parts of the city. More than 300 people died. But that was just the beginning...
13.
In 1918, Karabakh was the first among the republics of Transcaucasia to declare its independence, which did not last very long. Less than two months later, Shushi was occupied by Turkish-Azerbaijani military units, forcing the few Armenian military units to lay down their arms. Soon Turkey capitulated to the Entente countries and the place of the Turks in Shushi was taken by sepoy detachments, and a certain Sultanov, who personally participated in the massacre of Armenians in Baku a year earlier, began to rule the city under the protectorate of the British.
Naturally, in the end, these events prompted the Armenians to revolt in 1920, which was brutally suppressed. The lower part of the city was almost completely burned, and its population was either expelled or destroyed. It was thousands of refugees from Shushi who then founded Stepanakert on the site of the Armenian village of Vararakn. And here is what the Armenian part of Shushi looked like after these events.
14.
Shushi has lost its former significance. Over the 70 years of Soviet rule, the city has changed a lot. It was built up with ugly five-story buildings, but at the same time the historical part was preserved and actively restored, although mainly only the Azerbaijani one. The city even acquired the status of an architectural reserve.
The conflict was brewing gradually. In 1988, there were practically no Armenians left among the then 17,000-strong population, and they began to be forced out of the city back in the 60s. At the same time, Azerbaijanis were forced out of Stepanakert. And then the war happened...
16.
It is clear that during the Karabakh war, Shusha became a stronghold of Azerbaijani troops. The convenient strategic location allowed the Grad and Alazan systems to bomb neighboring Stepanakert without hindrance for 2 years. So Azerbaijan tried to make the city uninhabitable and force the entire Armenian population to leave it. But it turned out differently...
17.
The occupation of Shushi by the Armenian military became a textbook example of an ideal planned and executed military operation. The seemingly impregnable fortress was completely liberated in two days with minimal losses, and the entire Azerbaijani population was driven out of the city. And then what happened happened.
18.
The city was partially destroyed and burned after liberation. Age-old hatred and desire for revenge have played a cruel joke on this place. After this, Shushi still cannot recover.
19.
Armenians don't really want to populate this city. There are still a huge number of abandoned houses in the city. Partially occupied five-story buildings look even more detrimental.
20.
There is a lot of garbage in the city, which is not collected often. Walking around the old part of Shushi is interesting, but in some places it is life-threatening. All that remains of many houses here are walls, and the beautiful stone-paved streets are overgrown with grass and bushes. Life here barely glimmers.
21.
We looked into the building of the former local prosecutor's office. A beautiful building with a hundred-year history has been completely abandoned for a very long time, but is still relatively well preserved.
22.
And there are many such buildings in the city.
23.
The most vivid impression for me was visiting the so-called Lower Mosque. It is currently completely abandoned.
24.
We climbed to the top of one of the minarets.
25.
From here, interesting and very characteristic panoramas of Shushi opened up.
26.
And yet the city is gradually being revived.
27.
The first step was to restore local Armenian churches. The Ghazanchetsots Cathedral is now one of the main ones in the unrecognized republic. It looks stunning on the outside and very modest on the inside.
28.
Several schools have been completely rebuilt in the city.
29.
Many historical monuments are also being restored. I am especially pleased that the madrasah building has been rebuilt. Work is also underway on the former main Upper Mosque of the city.
We visited a private exhibition of carpets.
34.
We talked for a long time with the director of the local history museum.
35.
So the city is worthy of attention and there is something to do here. But a lot still needs to be done, and I’m afraid the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh cannot cope here with their own resources. The same Bosnian Mostar was restored by the whole world, pouring in huge financial resources. Shushi, however, does not receive such attention yet even in the distant future.
And although it seems impossible for Azerbaijanis to return here, I would like to believe that someday this city will regain its former harmony, regardless of nationalities and religions...
36.
P.S.S. Subscribe to my page
AzerbaijanStory
Melik of Varanda Shahnazar, who was at enmity with his neighbors, was the first of the Armenian meliks to recognize the power of Panah-Ali Khan and offered him a place for a new and more reliable fortress, which was built in 1751.
He planned to subjugate the Armenian Magals of Khamsa. Melik Shahnazar bey was the first to consider it expedient to submit.
The city was first called Panakhabad in honor of its founder, and later began to be called Shusha after the nearby village of Shushikent, some of the inhabitants of which were resettled to the new city, along with the residents of Shah-bulag and several other villages. According to Mirza Jamal, before the founding of the city by Panah-Ali Khan, “there were no dwellings on this site. This place was arable land and pasture that belonged to the inhabitants of Shushikend, located six miles east of the fortress.”
Current state
Illustrations
Stamp of Azerbaijan 645.jpg
Azerbaijan stamp of 2003, dedicated to the fortress
Write a review about the article "Shushi Fortress"
Notes
- According to the constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the territory controlled by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is part of the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan. De facto, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is an unrecognized state, most of which is not controlled by Azerbaijan.
- According to the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
- According to the administrative-territorial division of Azerbaijan
- // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
- Shusha- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
- (English)
- Mirza Adigezal bey. Karabag-Name. Chapter 4.
- Abbas-Quli-Aga Bakikhanov, “Gulistan-i Iram”, Period V.
Links
| This is a draft article about the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. |
| This is a draft article about Azerbaijan. You can help the project by adding to it. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Excerpt characterizing the Shusha fortress
Five days later, the young Prince Nikolai Andreich was baptized. The mother held the diapers with her chin while the priest smeared the boy’s wrinkled red palms and steps with a goose feather.The godfather grandfather, afraid to drop him, shuddering, carried the baby around the dented tin font and handed him over to his godmother, Princess Marya. Prince Andrei, frozen with fear that the child would not be drowned, sat in another room, waiting for the end of the sacrament. He looked joyfully at the child when the nanny carried him out to him, and nodded his head approvingly when the nanny told him that a piece of wax with hairs thrown into the font did not sink, but floated along the font.
Rostov's participation in Dolokhov's duel with Bezukhov was hushed up through the efforts of the old count, and Rostov, instead of being demoted, as he expected, was appointed adjutant to the Moscow governor general. As a result, he could not go to the village with his entire family, but remained in his new position all summer in Moscow. Dolokhov recovered, and Rostov became especially friendly with him during this time of his recovery. Dolokhov lay sick with his mother, who loved him passionately and tenderly. The old woman Marya Ivanovna, who fell in love with Rostov for his friendship with Fedya, often told him about her son.
“Yes, Count, he is too noble and pure of soul,” she used to say, “for our current, corrupted world.” Nobody likes virtue, it hurts everyone's eyes. Well, tell me, Count, is this fair, is this fair on Bezukhov’s part? And Fedya, in his nobility, loved him, and now he never says anything bad about him. In St. Petersburg, they joked about these pranks with the quarterly, because they did it together? Well, Bezukhov had nothing, but Fedya bore everything on his shoulders! After all, what did he endure! Suppose they returned it, but how could they not return it? I think there weren’t many brave men and sons of the fatherland like him there. Well now - this duel! Do these people have a sense of honor? Knowing that he is the only son, challenge him to a duel and shoot so straight! It's good that God had mercy on us. And for what? Well, who doesn’t have intrigue these days? Well, if he is so jealous? I understand, because he could have made me feel it before, otherwise it went on for a year. And so, he challenged him to a duel, believing that Fedya would not fight because he owed him. What baseness! That's disgusting! I know you understood Fedya, my dear count, that’s why I love you with my soul, believe me. Few people understand him. This is such a high, heavenly soul!
Dolokhov himself often, during his recovery, spoke to Rostov such words that could not have been expected from him. “They consider me an evil person, I know,” he used to say, “so be it.” I don’t want to know anyone except those I love; but whom I love, I love him so much that I will give my life, and I will crush the rest if they stand on the road. I have an adored, unappreciated mother, two or three friends, including you, and I pay attention to the rest only as much as they are useful or harmful. And almost everyone is harmful, especially women. Yes, my soul,” he continued, “I have met loving, noble, sublime men; but I haven’t met women yet, except for corrupt creatures - countesses or cooks, it doesn’t matter. I have not yet encountered that heavenly purity and devotion that I look for in a woman. If I found such a woman, I would give my life for her. And these!...” He made a contemptuous gesture. “And do you believe me, if I still value life, then I value it only because I still hope to meet such a heavenly being who would revive, purify and exalt me.” But you don't understand this.
The Shusha fortress, built in 1752 by Khan Panah-Ali-bek, had a purely defensive significance, since the Karabakh Khanate needed impregnable protection, especially in the northern part of the plateau. It was there that the relief would play into the hands of the besiegers, and not the defenders of the fortress. The fortress began to be built with a huge fortress wall 2.5 kilometers long. The wall was practically insurmountable from the outside, as it began on high cliffs in the southwest of the plateau, and then climbed up the steep and sometimes almost vertical slopes of the gorge. On other sides, the fortress was reliably protected by massive rocks.
The military equipment of the 18th century simply could not cope with such a powerful fortification. The limestone walls are 7-8 meters high, and along the entire length of the wall the fortress is reinforced with semicircular towers, hollow inside. There was also a secret exit from the fortress, which through underground labyrinths could lead the besieged to the Karin-tak gorge. The fortress quickly became overgrown with residential buildings, partially absorbing the residents of the nearby village. Thus, the city of Shusha arose on the basis of the fortress.
The fortress had three entrances in different parts of the world, except for the south. The northern gate was called Gandzak (later Elizavetopol), the western - Yerevan, and the eastern - Amaras.
