Shusha

Shusha occupies a high plateau in the mountains of Karabakh, protected on three sides by steep cliffs. Its position made it a formidable stronghold and the centre of the Karabakh Khanate. Within its walls grew a town of palaces, houses, mosques and churches, inhabited by both Muslim and Armenian communities.

In the 1750s Panah Ali Khan established a fortress here and moved the seat of his khanate to the new town, initially known as Panahabad. His successor Ibrahim Khalil Khan strengthened and enlarged it. In 1795 Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar besieged Shusha but failed to take the fortress; two years later his army occupied it, only for the shah to be killed there. The khanate came under Russian protection in 1805 and was abolished in 1822.