Gates of Shusha Fortress

Baku, March 30, AZERTAC People could enter the fortress through four gates: northern - Ganja gapisi, eastern - Aghoghlan gapisi (it was also called Shushakand gapisi or Mukhatar gapisi), western -Iravan gapisi or Khalifali gapisi, as the road to Iravan went through the village of Khalifali, and through the fourth one, the location of which has not been determined yet. According to an illustrated newspaper called “Illustratsia...”, Aghaoghlan and Iravan gates served for riders and load packs and Ganja gate -for horse-drawn vehicles. The Ganja gate was considered as the main one. A deep lancet arch of the gate was framed by a mosaic stone laying of dark and light colours. They linked Shusha with Ganja through one of magals of the Garabagh Khanate - Chelaberd. Therefore, it was sometimes called Chelaberd gapisi. When Russians took Ganja in 1804, they renamed it into Elizabethpol, in honour of wife of Nikolay I. In the same way, the Ganja gate started to be called ‘the Elizabethpol gate’.