Shaki landscapes have a nature of the amazing beauty; folds of green hills are gracefully decorated with architectural objects of very-very different ages. Visual appearance of this ancient city of crafts, manufacturing and trade traditions still keeps its original architectural background.

Being the capital of the Shaki Khanate, Shaki was situated at the southern foothills of the Greater Caucasian Range. The old town was located somewhat lower than it is situated now, in the valley of the Kish River. After the old city-center was completely destroyed by mudflows in 1772, Shaki was rebuilt at a new place.

The main town-planning features of Shaki were determined by natural environment; the city is formed as a harmonic combination of manmade buildings with natural environment. The down-town market place is nothing more than a street along the river-bed of the Gurjanachai river. Bendings of this river have set the main architecture tone of all of the city. Many other streets of Shaki (all of them limited in height of their buildings) also are of a large historical and architectural-art value.

There are Upper and Lower Caravan Sarais located along the right bank of the river Gurjanachai. They are the two of five large Caravan-Sarais, constructed here in XVII - XIX centuries; other three were destroyed. General composition of the Upper Caravan-Sarai is harmonically enriched with yard lodges, few pools (hovuz) and garden ambient them. When an entrance gate of the lower Caravan-Sarai is closed, this construction turns to be an unapproachable fortress.

Turn to the left and find the fortress gate in front of you.

Neatness was always typical to Shaki as it is an eastern city. The cleanness of the city was specially emphasized in several chronicle sources of the XIX century. Roads and streets of the city are described as covered with large river rubbles, yards and squares - strewed with a small-size stone pieces. In comparison with all other cities of the region, Shaki always was considered to be a town with the largest number of bath-houses. It is typical for Azerbaijan, that besides its direct sanitary-hygienic functions, a bath-house was used as a meeting place of inhabitants of the same Mahalle (block). They could exchange news, have a rest and spend some time in a bath-house. Good preserved Shaki bath, dated as of XIX century, has a structure which is traditional for bath-houses of the Medieval period. The building consists of two big halls, one intended for undressing (Chol or Bayir) and another for washing (Icheri).

Shaki, same as any other eastern city, has many ancient mosques. Unfortunately, part of these mosques weren't preserved till our days in a good condition. As a sample of the saved architectural monuments, it is possible to name the Minaret of the Gileili mosque - the highest minaret in the Shaki-Zagatala region. In villages of the Shaki region several early-Christian architectural monuments of the Caucasian Albania are located. One of them is the church of Kish (VI-VII centuries), another - the temple (VI-VII centuries) in the village of Orta Zeizit. Territory of the town was divided into two parts. Upper part consisted from the Shaki fortress, trade buildings, markets; lower part was mainly the place for dwellings.

The Shaki fortress is a Khan's citadel, dated to XVIII century. It has two gates and defensive towers on its southern and northern sides. The towers and the fortress wall have reached our time in a destroyed condition, but in 1958 - 1963 the fortress was reconstructed. According to an order of the Shaki governor Huseyn-khan, in 1726, inside the fortress there was constructed the Khan's palace - an outstanding masterpiece of the medieval eastern architecture. This palace is one of the most valuable monuments of the material culture of Azerbaijan.

Another ancient tradition - ornamental Shabaka compositions with colored glass

The interior of the two-stored summer palace is decorated with paintings. Stalactite niches are very beautifully combined with them. The central axis of a facade is underlined by huge Shabaka, substituting an outside wall of halls and rooms of the palace. Shabaka is an open-worked, carved, wooden vitrage. It is interesting, that Shabaka consists of five thousand separate pieces per square meter, jointed among themselves without one single nail. Besides the Palace, there is also the House of Shaki Khans, which presents its visitors all features of classical national housing accommodation, while the richness of decorative elements come near to facilities of a Palace character. The House of Shaki Khans is considered to be a summer dwelling - pavilion, while the building served as the winter dwelling was probably situated among habitation constructions, ruins of which are grouped around the garden in the yard.

In the yard of historical architectural ensemble, the ancient pool was also saved in a good condition. The ancient Chinars (Plane-trees) are proudly rising in front of the main facade, rustling with their giant tops. They are contemporaries of the construction, which age is estimated by centuries.