Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

Shamakhi is one of countless fascinating regions of Azerbaijan. The regions’s centre, city of Shamakhi, has also served as the capital of the former state of Shirvanshahs, which existed here for almost seven centuries. Due to this fact, a number of ancient landmarks, drawing insatiable interest of many tourists visiting the country every year, conserved here.

The region is located on the southeastern foothills of the Greater Caucasus. It is distanced in 135 kilometers from the Azerbaijani capital, Baku. In order to facilitate the tourists’ travel over the country, lots of intercity buses provide their services to transport people to this astonishing place.

Shamakhi climate is moderately warm -- the region is neither extremely hot nor cold, that lets tourist visit it for all the year round. Its mean winter temperature hardly falls below 0°C, and in the hottest summer days, it can barely reach +30°C. Even if you get thirsty in the suburb areas, mineral springs that are at every step will help you out.

The landscape is wonderfully diverse — steppes alternate foothill meadows and forests. The soil of the area is very fertile and the region is rich of impressive flora and fauna species.

Oak, beech and hornbeam forests, located on the slopes of high mountains; green meadows, fragrant and flowering herbs and shrubs create stunning scenery during three seasons in Shamakhi, from spring to autumn. More than 50 species of medicinal plants spread over the whole area. A fabulous cave in the vicinity of Melhem village is famous for its amazing healing qualities. The prevailing species in the fauna of Shamakhi region are roe deer, wild boars, bears and wild cats.

To protect the beautiful nature of the region, Pirgulu State Reserve, covering 1,521 hectares, was established in 1968 in Shamakhi. The reserve is one of the most beautiful areas of the southeast part of the Large Caucasus. Pirgulu reserve protects brown bear, wolf, forest cat, lynx, weasel, wild boar, roe deer that live in its boundaries.

In recent years, the region has become a popular tourist destination – they come here for almost every day. Some tourists tend to visit Jangi forest of the region, where wild apple, pear, plum trees, surrounded with sulfur springs, grow. Moreover, many sources of cool spring water comes out in the place of Girkh Bulag (40 springs). This place can be considered as the site of virgin nature, where people can leave routine city life in order to dive into the past.

During its history, Shamakhi was one of the most important points throughout the Great Silk Road which was connecting East Asia and the Mediterranean in antiquity and the Middle Ages. Located on the crossroads of caravan routes, Shamakhi was one of the major centers of commerce and crafts in the Middle East, occupying an important place in the silk trade. In the 16th century Shamakhi was mentioned in trade ties with Venetian merchants.

Shamakhi, which has always been well-known as one of the main centers of carpet weaving in Azerbaijan, up to present gladden its population and visitors with new carpets – a carpet factory functions in the region’s centre. Everybody can visit it and order a personal carpet or as a gift for friends or relatives. As Shamakhi has favorable winegrowing climate, wine industry is developing intensively.

Despite the high seismicity of the region, many important historical monuments have survived until now, such as Juma mosque — Friday mosque of the 8th century; Yeddi Gumbez — a cemetery and a group of mausoleums; the tomb of Shirvan khans of the 18-19th centuries; the ruins of the Gulistan fortress (11-12th centuries). In the 19th century, the town was famous due to Shamakhi dancers, the principal entertainment dancers groups of the region.

Vast number of clear days per year in Shamakhi provided good conditions to construct Shamakhi Astrophysical Observatory in 1960, which is located in 22 kilometers from the city and was one of the important observatories of the former Soviet Union and still is the largest one of the whole Caucasus region. The first of the largest telescopes in the USSR was established in this observatory. In 1981, the it was named after the great Azerbaijani mathematician, physicist and astronomer the middle ages, Nasiraddin Tusi. The grand observatory is still in use by Azerbaijani astrophysicists and is periodically being visited by foreign scientists.

On the territory of the region there are a lot of camp sites, restaurants, cheap and luxurious hotels for tourists. One of them, Shamakhi Palace, located in the Shahdag National Park, is one of the most significant national parks in Azerbaijan, only 19 kilometers from Shamakhi. The grand hotel reflects the excellent atmosphere of untouched nature.

Thus, if you are going to visit gorgeous Azerbaijan, do not forget to come to Shamakhi, the treasury of Azerbaijani history, architect, nature and craftwork. The region’s amenities will guarantee you to forever remember your visit to Shamakhi.