Khan’s Palace/Haji Gulu’s Mansion

This two-story structure, today in ruins, was the residence of the Shusha Khans. Formerly, it consisted of two buildings with walls made of whitewashed stone. The entrance, located on the north side, was an arched gate with a surmounting inscription. Stone columns in the courtyard were decorated with wooden sculptures of snakes.

The palace remained largely intact into the late Soviet era, as shown by KH-9 Hexagon reconnaissance imagery (not shown). Google Earth imagery suggests that a portion of the structure may have remained extant through 2004. But by August 2013 the entire structure had been reduced to a few standing segments of walls, part of a wider process of heritage mining during the administration of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic documented in CHW’s Special Report #2 “Between the Wars”.

CHW is concerned by the extensive earthmoving and construction in the area surrounding the palace. It is possible that this work heralds an impending effort at restoring the structure. But for the moment, current evidence only indicates a worrying amount of potentially destabilizing activity in the area.