Shusha Museum of History, Ethnographic museum in Shusha, Azerbaijan.
The Shusha Museum of History opened in 1968 in the Yukhari Govhar Agha Mosque and from 1981 occupied three departments covering the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Its exhibits included photographs and models of historic Shusha houses, carpets and pottery from the town and nearby villages, and paintings made by Vasily Vereshchagin during his 1864 visit. The museum has not operated since the capture of Shusha on 8 May 1992.
The idea of a museum arose in 1967, when Arif Agakishiyev, first secretary of the Shusha District Party Committee, proposed it to the Ministry of Culture. It opened in June 1968 in the Yukhari Govhar Agha Mosque during celebrations for the jubilee of poet Molla Panah Vagif, and from 1981 it received visitors as the Shusha Museum of History. It closed after the capture of Shusha on 8 May 1992.
The museum displays traditional carpets and ceramics from the region, preserving the craftsmanship of earlier generations. These objects give visitors a sense of how people lived and expressed themselves in daily life.
The museum has not operated since the capture of Shusha on 8 May 1992, so no visit or tour is possible. Its collection of over 6,000 exhibits was destroyed or removed during the occupation, and the building's exhibits are not on display.
Among the exhibits were paintings made by the Russian artist Vasily Vereshchagin during his stay in Shusha in 1864, and an unexploded 43-kilogram artillery shell from the attack of Agha Muhammad Shah Qajar.
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