In the book – album prepared by a group of Georgian scientists under the guidance of Prof. Eldar Nadiradze, collected images of more than 300 artifacts related to the Karabakh Khanate (1747-1822) – autonomous Azerbaijani state entity with its capital in the city of Shusha.
The collection is part of numerous exhibits collected in Karabakh during military and scientific expeditions of the 19th – early 20th centuries. and sent to the archives of the Russian Empire in the city of Tiflis, and now stored in the collections of the Georgian National Museum.
These artifacts, for various reasons, have never been exhibited and studied, but have been kept in archives for more than a hundred years.
Now, these rare funds, researched by Georgian scientists and included in the album, show the diversity and depth of the cultural heritage of Azerbaijani people in Karabakh during the Khanate period – the glorious era of victories of weapons and pen, the glory of aristocratic families, and the brilliance of the finest poetry, flights of spirituality and creative uplift. This book is of undoubted interest both for specialists and a wide range of readers interested in the history of Karabakh.
The book was published by the Eurasian International Development Association (project manager, Chairman of the organization Elchin Asgarov), with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan.
The book presentations were held in the city of Shusha and Tbilisi.
On July 9, the presentation of the “Karabakh Khanate. Historical and cultural profile” book, prepared under the authorship of leading Georgian scientists, took place in the cultural capital of Azerbaijan – the city of Shusha.
The presentation took place within the framework of the session of meeting of heads of Azerbaijan’s diplomatic missions abroad. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov, speaking at the event in Shusha, noted that we would not be mistaken if we say that the period of the Karabakh Khanate, when Shusha, considered the pearl of Karabakh, was founded, is of particular interest to a wide range of readers.
On July 22, another book presentation ceremony was held at the Georgian Museum of Fine Arts in Tbilisi as part of an international conference dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Georgia. The conference was organized by the Eurasian International Development Association, the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Georgia, the Caucasus International University of Georgia.
At the ceremony, the head of the group of book’s authors, Professor Eldar Nadiradze stressed that this catalogued collection will contribute to increasing international interest in the Karabakh Khanate as an integral part of the history of Azerbaijan.
In his turn, Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Elshad Iskаndаrov, thanking Georgian scientists for their dedicated scientific research in the field of Azerbaijan’s historical heritage, added that this work has already been translated and published in five foreign languages (Azerbaijani, Russian, English, French and Arabic), and will be presented in world scientific centers.
Later, representatives of the scientific and cultural community of Georgia, who took part in the presentation, got acquainted with the photo exhibition, which depicts selected artifacts from the book-album.
Among them, the flag attributed to the Karabakh Khanate, the shield of Shah Ismail, preserved during the dynasty of the Karabakh Khanate, as well as photographs depicting images of the city of Shusha of the XIX century, aroused particular interest.
