UNIVERSAL VALUE

There is a special atmosphere, which tempts you to come back here again and again. Sheki is an ancient Azerbaijani city with leisurely life and characteristic melodic dialect of its residents. A city of various crafts, cobbled narrow streets and cosy houses with red-tiled roofs and ancient gates. A city from fairy tales. It seems that if you stay in Sheki forever, life will become as comfortable as its unique geography.

Continuity

Shekins speak a colorific and sweet dialect of Azerbaijani. They are the soul of their city with a special sense of ethnic identity. One can sense this attribute throughout Sheki from sweet halva made from rice flour, nuts coated with sugar syrup, bamiyeh to piti, a dish specific to Sheki only. These are dynastic recipes, which Shekins are very proud of and are reluctant to share with other people. One can hardly find a single shop of hereditary halvachylar (pastry chefs) without photographs of their great grandfathers hanging on the walls. Their sons are custodians of the ingredients of this marvellous cuisine and, perhaps, it has never occurred to any of them to live in a different way. At emotional and intuitive level, they know that they have a responsibility to play an important role of being the bearers of history, which, in fact, makes the residents of Sheki true Shekins.

Originality

It is everywhere. In Sheki, everything has a touch of history, special respect for traditions. Therefore, they do not need a rebirth whether it is an old technology of manufacturing stained glass shebeke, made up of coloured glass and wooden bars, assembled without nails and glue, or a special technique for making jewellery. All this is made by artisans, who enjoy special pleasure from their work. The streets of Sheki are named after professions: Duluzchular (potters), Zargarlar (jewellers), Halvachylar. They exhibit their works in the heart of the city, in a quarter where dozens of workshops are located.

Symbolism

Perhaps the only craft that has been returned to life was the making of silk kelaghai. Not because the locals had lost the secrets but because of economic problems that Azerbaijan experienced after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Even today, Sheki is best known in the world for its silk, because this business has been handed down from generation to generation by artisans. Kelaghai of all sizes and different bright colours — a favourite headscarf of women, especially those who love the trendy style of boho, is around every corner of the city. It is impossible to imagine how many headscarves are now walking around the world with their owners who have been to Sheki. In a scarf, which is a part of the wide Azerbaijani soul. The silk fabric is decorated with national oblong mutakka pillows, carpets, blankets, and sews clothes.

Miracle of artisanship

The architecture of Sheki with its many historical monuments bears a delicate soul of its inhabitants. The city is rightly called an architectural reserve. Perhaps, only Sheki architects could build the Khan's palace without a single nail. The palace of the Sheki khans built in the 18th century is an outstanding piece of medieval architecture of Azerbaijan. It is rumoured that red brick and cobblestones used in the construction were attached to each other using a special solution, the recipe of which was lost, unfortunately.

Palace of the first khanate

Built in 1761-1762, the palace belonged to Huseyn Khan Mushtag, who was the grandson of Haji Celebi Khan, the founder of the first independent khanate in Azerbaijan. It is about 30 meters long with two floors covering a total area of ​​about 300 square meters. Inside, there are six rooms, four corridors and two mirrored balconies. The facade is painted with drawings depicting scenes of hunting and war, as well as geometric and plant patterns. In the centre, there is a huge stained-glass window made of multicoloured glass mosaic. The windows are assembled from pieces of coloured glass inside openwork stone frames. One square meter of decorated windows, shebeke, consists of five thousand (!) small pieces of coloured glass. The palace is considered one of the best examples of palace architecture of the 18th century in the Caucasus and one of the pearls of the Islamic East. The Palace of Sheki khans has another attraction: two majestic chinars in its garden as tall as 34 meters and planted in 1530.

Result

This summer tourist season even more tourists rush to Sheki. Because during the next meeting at the 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee held in Baku, the Palace of Sheki khans and the historic centre of Sheki were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. This is a triumph of Azerbaijan and all residents of Sheki; a continuation of the triumph of 2014, when the art of making, symbolism and wearing kelaghai was included (the 9th session of UNESCO) in the rank of traditions especially protected by the world community.

President Ilham Aliyev congratulated the Azerbaijani people on this occasion. He noted that the Sheki Khan’s Palace personified our past, and that caravanserais, mosques and minarets, ancient bridges, craft workshops and residential buildings in the historical centre of Sheki are now considered the cultural heritage of not only our people, but all of humanity. According to Mr. Aliyev, the protection and development of unique monuments of the historical part of the city was constantly in the centre of attention of the state.

It is worth mentioning that the active work on the inclusion of Sheki into the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee was initiated and led by the First Vice-President of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the election of Mehriban Aliyeva as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. She was awarded the title for her efforts in preserving and developing oral folk literature and musical heritage of Azerbaijan, achievements in cultural exchange, as well as adherence to the ideas of UNESCO. On her initiative and with her support, a number of international events were held in Baku to expand cooperation between Azerbaijan and UNESCO in the field of science, education, culture.

Under the auspices of UNESCO, the 500th anniversary of Fizuli, the 1,300th anniversary of Kitabi Dede Gorgud, the 100th anniversary of the first production of the opera Leyli and Mejnun, a famous scientist, academic Yusif Mamedaliyev, prominent writer and literary critic Mir Jalal Pashayev were celebrated.

Thanks to the efforts of Mehriban Aliyeva Azerbaijani mugham, Gobustan State Historical and Artistic Reserve Icherisheher, the Maiden's Tower, Palace of Shirvanshahs complex in the list of the World Cultural Heritage of UNESCO, ashug, carpet art, performing arts on the packaging, Novruz Bayramy, dolma, lavash, kelaghai, and the city of Sheki were included in the UNESCO’s representative list of intangible cultural heritage of mankind.

Cultural events held at UNESCO headquarters on the initiative and with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, presentations related to the development, history and culture of Azerbaijan, as well as publications and catalogs about our cultural monuments and national cuisine are of great importance from the point of view of popularizing our country. With such support, the number of UNESCO cultural heritage sites in Azerbaijan will increase in the future. Moreover, there are a lot of cultural objects in the country that are awaiting recognition.

Part of our common heritage

Now the historical centre of Sheki, its special atmosphere and the Palace of the Sheki khans are part of the common heritage of mankind. As stated in the 1972 Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, the document recognises that some places on Earth have “outstanding universal value” that must be identified and preserved.

The World Heritage Convention has been ratified by 190 countries. Currently, the World Heritage List includes 962 sites (745 cultural, 188 natural and 29 mixed) in 157 state parties.

From now on, the unique convention on the conservation of nature and the preservation of cultural objects extends to the historical area of ​​Sheki. It is an effective tool to address current issues, including problems related to climate change, rapid urbanisation, mass tourism, sustainable socio-economic development and natural disasters. Special attention is paid to the role of local communities. Azerbaijan and the residents of Sheki deserved it.