In spite of these losses, the Qajar Dynasty was able to effectively exploit tensions between Britain and Russia to their advantage, and in the latter half of its existence it was hugely modernised, with educational reforms and increased connection with the West transforming the country’s landscape forever.

Though the dynasty wasn’t to last – it was formally terminated in 1925 – its existence, which was peppered with assassinations, wars and finally a coup – fundamentally altered the landscape of the Middle East.

So what happened to the Qajar Dynasty of Iran?

The original leader aimed to reunify Iran

Following the death of Moḥammad Karīm Khān Zand, the Zand dynasty ruler of southern Iran in 1779, Āghā Moḥammad Khān, the leader of the Turkmen Qājār tribe, set out to overthrow his enemies and reunify Iran. He established the Qajar dynasty in 1785 when he overthrew the Zand dynasty and took the Peacock throne, and was enthroned as the king of Iran in 1789. However, at this time he had not yet been formally crowned as shah, or emperor.

Portrait of Āghā Moḥammad Khān

Image Credit: Unknown author, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1794, the city of Kerman harboured the nearly-deposed ruler of the former Zand dynasty, Lotf Ali Khan. After a period of fighting, Khan captured the city. To punish those there for harbouring his enemy, Khān killed or blinded all of the male inhabitants, and a pile was made out of 20,000 detached eyeballs which was poured in front of him. The women and children were all sold into slavery, and the city was destroyed.

By 1794, Khān had therefore eliminated all of his rivals. In addition, he had brutally reasserted Iranian sovereignty over the former Iranian territories in Georgia and the Caucasus, and established his capital at Tehran, a village near the ruins of the ancient city of Ray. He was formally crowned as shah, or emperor, in 1796. Just a year later, he was assassinated.

Russia took much of Iran’s land

Having been castrated when he was just six years old, the late ruler Khān had no issue. His nephew, Fath Ali Shah, succeeded him as Shahanshah, or ‘King of Kings’. Fath aimed to maintain Iran’s sovereignty over its new territories, so launched the Russo-Persian War of 1804 to 1813 to stop Russian incursions into the Caucasus region, which had traditionally been under Iranian control.

These wars were disastrous, and as a result, the terms of the 1813 Treaty of Gulistan dictated that the Qajar rulers had to cede Azerbaijan, Dagestan and eastern Georgia to the Romanov Tsar of Russia. A second Russo-Persian war from 1826 to 1828 ended in another severe defeat, and Iran ceded the rest of the South Caucasus to Russia.

Fath established connections with the West

At the same time, Fath’s reign saw the beginning of diplomatic contacts with the West, which in turn introduced intense European rivalries over Iran’s territory.

His grandson, Mohammed Shah, succeeded Fath in 1834. He made two unsuccessful attempts to capture Herat. When Mohammed Shah died in 1848, his son Naser-e-Din succeeded him. He was to become the most able and successful ruler of the whole Qajar dynasty.

The country was modernised from the mid-19th century onwards

Nasser-e-Din’s reign is best known for introducing significant infrastructure to the country as well as modern science, technology and educational methods, largely because of Nasser-e-Din’s highly effective advisor and constable, Mirza Taghi Khan Amir Kabir. The dynasty gained telegraph lines, a modern postal service, ‘Western-style’ schools and its first newspaper, and Nasser-e-Din himself was a a fan of the emerging technology of photography. In a fairly radical move, his reign also limited the power of the Shi’a Muslim clergy over secular matters.

Nasser-e-Din also contracted huge foreign loans to finance expensive personal trips to Europe. He also granted foreigners – primarily British – concessions for building railways and irrigation canals, and for the processing and sale of all tobacco in the country. All of this combined unwittingly led to Iranian nationalism, with the new tobacco rules triggering a nationwide boycott of tobacco products and a clerical fatwa, which forced Nasser-e-Din to back down.

Photograph of Naser al-Din

Image Credit: Nadar, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Though the shah aimed to exploit the mutual distrust between Britain and Russia to preserve Iran’s independence, both foreign interference and territorial encroachment increased under his rule.  By 1881, Russia controlled what are today Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and Britain similarly made incursions by supporting the creation of Afghanistan. By the late 19th century, many Iranians believed that their country and rulers were largely beholden by foreign interests.

Remarkable educational reforms were made

Nasser-e-Din was assassinated in 1896, and the crown passed to his son Mozaffar o-Din, who proved to be a weak and incompetent ruler. His extravagant spending – partly on lavish trips to Europe – combined with the absence of income meant that he quickly became deeply unpopular.

Iranians demanded a curb on royal power and the establishment of a formal rule of law, and in 1906, Mozaffar o-Din was forced to grant a constitution that effectively curtailed his power as monarch by implementing an elected parliament.

Though these changes were of huge importance, just a year later, the Anglo-Russian Agreement carved further bits of Iran into spheres of influence under their control.

The first national Iranian Parliament was established in 1906 during the Persian Constitutional Revolution

Image Credit: Unknown author, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

World War One significantly weakened the dynasty

Nasser-e-Din’s son Mohammed Ali Shah attempted, with the support of Russia, to rescind the constitution that enabled parliamentary government. This created such opposition that he was deposed in 1909. His son Ahmad Shah succeeded him at the tender age of 11, and because of his hedonistic temperament proved similarly ineffective and unpopular.

Britain, Russia and the Ottoman Empire occupying Iran during World War One was a significant blow, from which the country never fully recovered. A coup in 1921 installed Reza Shah Pahlavi, a commander of the Persian Cossack Brigade, as the foremost political figure in Iran under his new Pahlavi Dynasty. However, it was only in 1925, when Ahmad Shah was absent in Europe, that the parliamentary assembly formally declared the Qajar dynasty to be terminated.

Today, the Qajar Imperial Family still exist, but in exile. However, they often identify themselves and hold reunions to stay acquainted with one another, though these associations have twice before been stopped because of political pressure.

David conquered Jerusalem in the late-11th century BCE to became the first Jewish monarch to rule the kingdom of Judah. A direct descendant of David called Hezekiah became the Judean king in 715 BCE, and the very survival of Jerusalem depended upon how he coped with the overwhelming external threat to the city.

During the 8th century BCE, the era of far flung international empires began as Assyria expanded in all directions, including south-westwards to the Mediterranean coastline. Gaza became an Assyrian port and denoted the newly agreed Egyptian/Assyrian boundary.

Damascus was overrun in 732 BCE and ten years later the northern Jewish kingdom of Israel ceased to exist, as much of Syria and Palestine became Assyrian provinces. Judah maintained its national identity, but was effectively one of a number of regional satellite states paying tribute to Assyria.

As Judah’s prince regent and then king, Hezekiah had witnessed Assyrian campaigns to suppress rebellions in Syria and Palestine during 720, 716 and 713-711 BCE. The last of these culminated in the appointment of Assyrian governors to various Philistine cities with their inhabitants being declared Assyrian citizens. Judah was now almost completely encircled by Assyrian forces of one kind or another.

Hezekiah’s Preparation for War

King Hezekiah, depicted in a 17th century painting. Image Credit: Public Domain.

Many of the seemingly innocent administrative changes and natural reforms instigated by Hezekiah point towards careful preparations for eventual war against Assyria.

Hezekiah had witnessed sufficient spontaneous neighbouring uprisings fail at great cost to the insurgents. He knew that he had to lay careful groundwork to ensure that he had any chance of success against the might of Assyria and would certainly have wished to avoid the fate of the ruler of Hamath, who had been flayed alive as a warning to others contemplating rebellion.

A new tax system ensured food reserves and supplies with the merchandise stored in jars and sent to one of four of Judah’s district centres for storage and redistribution. On the military front, Hezekiah made sure that weapons were in good supply and that the army had a proper chain of command. Numerous towns and cities in the surrounding countryside were fortified and Jerusalem’s defences were strengthened with the introduction of elite special forces.

Jerusalem’s only enduring water supply was the Gihon Spring, situated at the foot of the eastern slope of the city. Hezekiah’s strategy for dealing with the commodity that neither aggressors nor defenders could survive without was to divert the water from the Gihon Spring.

His artisans carved an “S” shaped tunnel through one third of a mile of bedrock from the Gihon Spring to a huge ancient rock-cut pool known as the Pool of Siloam, on the southern slopes of Jerusalem’s old City of David. Hezekiah strengthened the eastern wall of Jerusalem utilizing stones from nearby houses and he built an additional wall to enclose and protect the Pool of Siloam.

Remnants of the wall built by Hezekiah prior to the Siege of Jerusalem in 701 BCE. Image Credit: Public Domain

Refugees, seeking safety from the various conflicts with the Assyrians had been flooding into Jerusalem for many years. Although there was some settlement to the north, steep valleys precluded any major developments to the east and the south of Jerusalem. There was, however, substantial migration to the west, and new suburbs emerged on Jerusalem’s sparsely populated Western Hill.

Hezekiah encompassed the Western Hill within new city walls that extended westwards from the Temple Mount, which housed Solomon’s Great Temple. To the south Hezekiah’s new defensive wall enclosed Mount Zion, before eventually inclining eastwards to the City of David. Jerusalem’s defences were now complete.

In c.703 BCE, Hezekiah had met with a delegation from Babylon, prior to an anti-Assyrian insurrection by the Babylonians. Perhaps co-incidental, but whilst the Assyrians were preoccupied with hostile uprisings in its northern territories, Hezekiah began his rebellion, supported by other Syrian and Palestinian leaders and with the promise of Egyptian assistance.

The Assyrians put down the Babylonian insurgency and in 701 BCE moved to reassert their authority in Palestine. The Assyrian army travelled along the Mediterranean coast, receiving tribute from the kings who knew better than to resist, and vanquishing those that did not readily acquiesce.

The cities of Sidon and Ashkelon were amongst those forced to capitulate and have their kings replaced by new vassal monarchs. Egyptian bowmen and chariots, supported by Ethiopian cavalry, arrived to engage the Assyrians, but failed to have any meaningful impact.

The Assyrian War Machine enters Judah

The Assyrians entered Judah and laid waste to several cities and walled forts and countless villages before sending envoys to negotiate the surrender of Jerusalem. Hezekiah responded by making a futile attempt to buy off the Assyrians with the treasure held in the Temple and his palace. The Assyrian records relate how they besieged Jerusalem making Hezekiah a prisoner like a bird in a cage.

Despite the cajoling of the Assyrians, Hezekiah, with moral support from the prophet Isaiah, refused to surrender, although he offered to accept any terms imposed by the Assyrians if they withdrew, which indeed they did.

Huge numbers of Judah’s population were deported or at least displaced and the Assyrians imposed excessive tribute liabilities upon Hezekiah. Additionally, a more even local balance of power was brought about by a redistribution of much of Judah’s territory to neighbouring city-states.

The Old Testament attributes Jerusalem’s salvation to divine intervention and whilst it is possible that a plague infected the Assyrian army and acted as a catalyst for their departure, this is probably no more than a retelling of a folk story by the compilers of the Old Testament.

Egypt would always be a greater threat to Assyria than the Palestinian kingdoms and therefore it served Assyrian interests to have buffer territories in place and Assyrian security was enhanced by allowing a subservient Judean state to continue to exist.

Furthermore, although the Assyrians possessed the manpower and the weaponry to conquer Jerusalem, to do so would be a lengthy process and entail prohibitive expenditure in terms of fatalities, injuries and loss of equipment. With their objectives achieved, it was therefore entirely logical for the Assyrians to depart, leaving a seriously ill Hezekiah to recover and continue as king of Judah for a further fifteen years.

The History of Jerusalem: It’s Origins to the Middle Ages by Alan J. Potter is now available for preorder at Pen and Sword Books.

What was Persia?

Persia was first coined by the Greeks as a term to refer to Cyrus the Great’s empire. It stemmed from the the word Parsa, the name of the group of people from which Cyrus the Great emerged to rule. Thus the word Persia is an exonym, a name that is given to a group of people by an outside force.

Greek legend associated the name Persia with Perseus, giving him a fictional son, Perses, from whom the Persian people stemmed.

Why did the name Iran emerge?

The name Iran had long been used – dating back to the Zoroastrians (1000BC) – along with other variations on the name including Arya, (literally, Land of the Aryans). Certainly by the 4th century AD, the term Iran was being used in writing and literature, and some Western texts noted an internal preference for the name Iran by the 19th century.

In the 1930s, steps began to be taken by Reza Shah to formalise the change in name from Persia to Iran, and the request came into force in March 1935. The British requested to continue to use Persia as Iran was too similar to Iraq – both countries were involved in the Second World War and occupied by the British and Churchill cited worries that the similarity in name would be confusing.

In 1959, Reza Shah’s son announced that the terms Iran and Persia could be used interchangeably in formal correspondence. Despite this, Iran has become the country’s dominant name – its official name since 1979 is Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān, which translates as the Islamic Republic of Iran.

20th century Iran

Oil was discovered in Persia in the early 20th century, and whilst the country’s vast land mass had long had complicated relationships with its neighbours, this development changed the political and economic landscape of the Middle East forever. The rest of the world paid Persia new attention, and the British were the first to capitalise on the discovery, setting up the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1909, which took total control of Iran’s oil industry.

Iran’s oil and petroleum industry have remained at the heart of internal and external politics ever since: the influence of Western powers in Iran helped lead a backlash in the formal of cultural ‘cleansing’ and conservatism, and the formal establishment of Iran as an Islamic Republic.

What’s the debate?

For many modern day Iranians, including the diaspora, the issue comes with wider connotations. Persia – whilst old-fashioned in the modern world – has connotations with a glorious past. Persian literature, poetry, art and food are all recognised as sophisticated cultural phenomena from the region in their own right. The Persian Empire was vast and complex, a melting pot of religions, cultures and civilizations: heritage in which people can find pride.

The name Iran, on the other hand, is tied to the nation’s turbulent 20th century history. Reza Shah’s coup d’etat was directed by the British, and the establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1925, with Reza Shah at its head, was arguably a turning point for foreign interference in Persian government. Reza Shah’s subsequent decision to rename Persia to Iran thus is associated with this defining moment in Iranian history.

A heated topic

Iran and Persia are not strictly exactly the same: their conflation has been criticised by many scholars, who argue a ‘national identity’ is an extremely recent idea within the Middle East, and the state of Iran following the revolution of 1979: it cannot simply be retrospectively applied to the people of Persia, who would more likely have identified with ethnic or local identities.

Historians and critics have also argued that Reza Shah’s imagined version of Iran as a nation-state relied on a glorification of a utopian past – the Land of the Aryans – in order to gain legitimacy and a sense of superiority. The term ‘Aryan’ also gained heightened currency in the early 20th century, as eugenics became an increasingly accepted and popular science.

The increasing emphasis on Iranian Islam, and Shi’i exceptionalism caused divisions within the new nation-state of Iran which persist today. Nonetheless, Reza Shah continued to use the names of past emperors and rulers of Persia to invoke the glories of ages long passed and to tie the past and the present.

A photograph of Reza Shah

Image Credit: Public Domain

Today, Iran is used predominantly in reference to the nation-state, whilst long-standing cultural exports such as food, art and literature are often referred to as Persian because of their long-standing and historic connotations with the region.

A 6th century legend says the head of the saint lives somewhere within the mosque. If you can’t find the relic when visiting, you can certainly find the mausoleum of Saladin in a small garden beside the north wall.

Umayyad Mosque history

In 661, the Islamic Caliphate came under the rule of the Umayyad dynasty, which chose Damascus to be the capital of the Muslim world. The sixth Umayyad caliph commissioned the construction of a mosque on the site of the Byzantine cathedral in 706 used by local Christians who had also built a Muslim prayer room.

The caliph al-Walid’s new mosque completely demolished the basilica, although features such as the arches were recycled. When the Christians protested, the caliph allowed them access to the seized churches in Damascus. The mosque was completed in 715, shortly after al-Walid’s death and was dedicated to the great city.

The Abbasid dynasty came to power in 750 and moved the capital of the Caliphate to Baghdad. The Abbasids had no interest in Damascus and the mosque suffered under their rule. However, because it was undeniably a triumph of Islam, the building was spared from the Abbasid’s systematic destruction of all things Umayyad.

Umayyad Mosque today

Today, entry to this beautiful Islamic landmark is free, but be aware you can’t enter without being dressed modestly (for women, that means covering shoulders and hair). The best time to go is early in the morning or in the later evenings when the mosque is lit up against the night sky, as this popular religious spot can become over-crowded.

Getting to the Umayyad Mosque

Located in the Umayyad Mosque Square, the mosque is easily found on foot in central Damascus.

In the 20th century, nationalism referred to a broad swathe of political ideologies, each shaped by different national contexts. These nationalist movements united colonised peoples fighting for independence, provided a devastated people with a homeland and provoked conflicts that continue into the present.

1. The Russo-Japanese War helped awaken nationalism across the world

Japan defeated the Russian Empire in 1905 as they fought over access to sea trade and territories in Korea and Manchuria. This conflict had significance that spread far beyond Russia and Japan – the war gave subjected and colonised populations hope that they too could overcome imperial domination.

2. World War One was a formative period for 20th century nationalism

The war was even started by nationalism, when a Serbian nationalist assassinated Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914. This ‘total war’ mobilised entire domestic and military populations to support the conflict in ‘common interest’.

The war also ended with central and Eastern Europe being divided into smaller states, including Austria, Hungary, Poland and Yugoslavia.

3. Economic nationalism rose in Latin America after World War One

Although Brazil was the only country to send troops, the war crippled many Latin American countries’ economies who, until then, had been exporting to Europe and the US.

During the Depression, several Latin American leaders sought nationalist solutions to economic issues they saw as the result of US and European imperialism, raising their own tariffs and restricting foreign imports. Brazil also restricted immigration to secure jobs for its citizens.

4. China became a nationalist country in 1925

The Kuomintang or the ‘National People’s Party’ led by Sun Yat-sen defeated Qing imperial rule in 1925. Nationalist feeling had been rising since China’s humiliating defeat by the Eight-Nation Alliance in the First Sino-Japanese War.

Sun Yat-sen’s ideology included the Three Principles of the People: nationalism, democracy and livelihood of the people, becoming the cornerstone of early 20th century Chinese political thinking.

5. Arab nationalism grew from under the Ottoman Empire

Under Turkish Ottoman rule, a small group of Arab nationalists formed in 1911 called the ‘Young Arab Society’. The society aimed to unite the ‘Arab nation’ and gain independence. Throughout World War One the British supported Arab nationalists to undermine the Ottomans.

When the Ottoman Empire was defeated at the war’s end, European powers carved up the Middle East, creating and occupying countries like Syria (1920) and Jordan (1921). However, Arab peoples wanted to determine their independence without Western influence, so established the Arab League in 1945 to promote Arab interests and remove their occupiers.

6. Ultranationalism was a key part of Nazism

Mass National Socialist Party rally attended by Hitler, 1934.

Image Credit: Das Bundesarchiv / Public Domain

Adolf Hitler‘s National Socialist ideology built upon 19th century German nationalism, largely succeeding in uniting Germans behind the idea of a people with common interests – a ‘Volksgemeinschaft’ – which merged with the state. Within Nazi nationalism was the policy of ‘Lebensraum’ meaning ‘living room’, putting the needs of the Germans first by taking Polish land.

7. The 20th century saw the formation of the first Jewish state

Jewish nationalism or Zionism had emerged in the 19th century, as European Jews moved to Palestine to live in their homeland or ‘Zion’. At the end of World War Two, after the horrors of the Holocaust and the scattering of European Jews, it was decided under mounting pressure that a Jewish State should be established in British occupied Palestine. The State of Israel was established in 1948.

Yet the Jewish state collided with Arab nationalists who believed Palestine remained Arab land, leading to decades of violence which continues today.

8. African nationalism brought independence to Ghana in 1957

Colonial rule shifted during World War Two, as European Empires became dependent on colonial manpower. With Africa a theatre of war, they granted further freedoms to colonised peoples. Nationalist political parties thus found space during the 1950s in almost all African colonies.

Many of these nationalist movements were shaped by the legacy of colonialism and kept arbitrary colonial territory borders that forced nationalism onto sub-national tribes and ethnic groups. The nationalist leadership were also often Western-educated men, such as Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of independent Ghana in 1957.

Kwame Nkrumah and Josef Tito arrive at the Non-alignment movement conference in Belgrade, 1961.

Image Credit: Historical Archives of Belgrade / Public Domain

9. Nationalism contributed to the fall of European communism

‘National communism’ was divisive within Soviet Europe. Leader of Communist Yugoslavia, Josef Tito, was denounced as a nationalist in 1948 and Yugoslavia was quickly cut-off from the USSR.

Nationalism was also a strong force in the Hungarian uprising of 1956 and the solidarity movement in Poland during the 1980s, which opened the door for political opposition to communist rule.

10. The end of the Communist Bloc in Eastern Europe led to a rise in nationalism

Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, newly independent countries tried to create or re-establish their collective identity. Former Yugoslavia – formed after World War One – was home to Croatian Catholics, Orthodox Serbs and Bosnian Muslims, and mass nationalism and ethnic hostilities between these groups soon spread.

What resulted was a conflict lasting 6 years in which an estimated 200,000 to 500,000 people died. Many were Bosnian Muslims, who were subject to ethnic cleansing by Serb and Croat forces.

Jabel Hafit Tombs history

Two oases the Al Ain and Buraimi provided water for agriculture in the pre-historic past and made the mountainous area habitable for Stone, Bronze, and Iron Age settlements.

The Jabel Hafit Tombs belong to the ‘Hafeet Period’ which was about 3200 to 2700 BC and named for the distinctive beehive shaped tombs. There are approximately 500 tombs in all at the foot of the mountain, discovered in 1950 and excavated by Danish archaeologists in 1959. There are rare skeletal remains in the tombs, but workers presume as many as 10 individuals were originally buried in any particular tomb.

Also found at the site were ceramic vessels and copper artefacts. Bronze objects, soapstone vessels, and beads of a much later date were also found in some tombs, suggesting their use through the Iron Age. Many of the objects found testify to trade with ancient Iran, Mesopotamia and India and Pakistan.

Jabel Hafit Tombs today

On a guided hike organised by Jebel Hafit Desert Park, you can see the incredible Jabel Hafit Tombs today. While graves on the northern side have been partially destroyed by construction, the southern tombs are still preserved. Make sure you take plenty of water and wear comfortable shoes to Al Ain.

The Jabel Hafit is also a popular tourist spot with views over the surrounding areas of Al Ain’s summit. The area encourages visitors to explore the rich biodiversity and long history. You can also camp in the park.

Getting to the Jabel Hafit Tombs

Al Ain is best reached via car: drive from Dubai along the E66 road, which takes just under 2 hours. From Abu Dhabi the drive is 2 hours along the E22.

Originally constructed by the ruler Shirvanshah Khalilulla I and his son, Faruk, Shirvanshahs’ Palace had both royal and religious significance. However, Shirvanshahs’ Palace is somewhat incomplete as construction was halted in 1501 when Faruk was killed in battle.

Nevertheless, Shirvanshahs’ Palace remains one of Baku’s main sites and is a UNESCO World Heritage site, described as “one of the pearls of Azerbaijan’s architecture”.

Shirvanshahs’ Palace history

Under Ibrahim I of the Shirvanshah dynasty during the 15th century, the capital was moved from Shemakha to Baku following an earthquake. Ibrahim committed himself to building a palace, and the chosen site is believed to have once been a sacred worship site and tomb of a Sufi saint. Wells inside the palace have since been thought to have healing properties.

The palace fell into ruin when the Sufis were expelled by the Safavids in 1501. In the second half of the 16th century, war broke out again – this time between the Safavids and the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish Ottomans conquered Baku in 1578 and begun restoring the palace. Turkish pashas lived there until the 17th century.

Shirvanshahs’ Palace was also severely damaged in the 18th century during the Russian invasion of 1723 by Peter I when the city was bombed. The Russian military partially renovated the palace, but destroyed many of the Arabic features.

Shirvanshahs’ Palace today

Upon first entering Shirvanshahs’ Palace, visitors go into a central courtyard through which they can access the residential parts of the palace. Much of the Shirvanshahs’ Palace is in ruins and other aspects were subject to thorough renovations, not all of them entirely sympathetic.

However, Shirvanshahs’ Palace contains many beautiful and authentic structures and inscriptions, particularly in the Throne Room and the Bayil Stone Friezes, rescued by the Soviets from the sea and installed in the palace museum. The structure also includes the palace mosque, the mausoleum of the Shirvanshahs and the tomb of Seyyid Yəhya Bakuvi, the court astrologer.

Getting to Shirvanshahs’ Palace

The easiest way of reaching Shirvanshahs’ Palace is using public transport: the Red Line metro stops at Icherisheher, only minutes walk from the palace. Alternately, buses 6, 18, 53, 65 and 205 stop at Icherisheher Street, only 8 minutes away. There is also car parking at Icheri Sheher.