About the city
A city where a window is a jewel of light and glass.
Sheki is one of the oldest cities of Azerbaijan, spread across the green slopes of the Greater Caucasus in the country's northwest. Its streets climb the hills among gardens, springs and rivers.
For centuries Sheki stood on the Great Silk Road: here people raised silkworms, wove silk, traded in great caravanserais and welcomed merchants from all over the East.
The heart of the city is the Palace of Sheki Khans with its famous shebeke windows and wall paintings. In 2019 the historic centre of Sheki together with the palace was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
And Sheki is also a taste: the airy Sheki halva, and fine crafts — shebeke, silk, copper. Here antiquity, nature and mastery are woven into a single pattern.
In brief
Sheki in a few traits
Timeline
Sheki through time
From Caucasian Albania to World Heritage — a short timeline of the city.
Khan's PalaceThe palace
A residence woven from light
The Palace of Sheki Khans is the city's main jewel. Its facade is covered with paintings, and its windows are shebeke: wooden lattices with thousands of coloured panes, assembled without a single nail.
Inside, the walls are painted with flowers and scenes of hunting and battle. Light passing through the shebeke floods the halls with precious colours.
CaravanseraiOld town
Stones of the Silk Road
Old Sheki is a fortress, narrow cobbled lanes, mosques and huge caravanserais where merchants from all over the East once stayed.
And in the nearby village of Kish stands an ancient Albanian church — a witness to the early Christianity of the Caucasus.
“Shebeke is a window made of light: thousands of little panes without a single nail.”
The art of shebeke
Sheki halvaCrafts & taste
Silk, shebeke and halva
Sheki has been famous for fine crafts for centuries: here people weave silk, assemble shebeke windows and chase copper. And on the table the city is recognised by its famous Sheki halva.
Layered, honey-and-nut, with a fine lattice of saffron on top — it has become the city's calling card.
CaucasusToday
A living museum-city
Today Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's main tourist cities: people come for the palace, the caravanserais, the nature of the Caucasus and, of course, the halva.
It is a living city, where crafts and hospitality are passed down from generation to generation.
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