Shusha Fortress

The Shusha fortress (Azerbaijani: Şuşa qalası, Persian: قلعه شوش) or Shushi fortress (Armenian: Շուշիի բերդ) is a fortress surrounding the historical centre of Shusha. The newly conquered castle town was called "Panahabad fortress" named after Panah Ali Khan who together with Melik Shahnazar was the founder of the fort. In later years, the city was just called "Fortress". A settlement at Shusha is first recorded in a 15th-century illustrated Armenian gospel which mentions the "Shushu village".

The area where the Shusha fortress was built is a mountainous plateau in the form of amphitheater from the west with numerous hills and rifts. The highest area of plateau is 1600 metres and the lowest area is 1300 metres above sea level. At present, the territory of Shusha city consists of plateau with a hill located lengthwise in its center. The architecture of Shusha fortress represents basic principles of architecture of feudal period in terms of both the choice of location, structural planning and the artistic appearance of the fort.

Shusha fortress had three main gates: Ganja Gate, Iravan Gate and Aghoghlan Gate. The names of all these gates are often mentioned in historical sources, as well as in all the drawn plans of 19th-century Shusha.

Tekst overgenomen uit “Shusha fortress” op de Engelstalige Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Shusha Fortress staat op plaats 1.582 van 5.793 in de bekendheidsranglijst van deze atlas en op plaats 4 van de 35 die de atlas in Azerbeidzjan in kaart brengt. Gebouwd in 1752, en daarmee ouder dan 20% van de gedateerde bouwwerken in de atlas — een van de 360 bouwwerken in de atlas die uit de 18e eeuw stammen. Zie hoe dat zich verhoudt in de kastelenstatistiek.

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