House of Shakikhanovs, 18th-century noble residence in Shaki, Azerbaijan.
The House of Shakikhanovs is a two-story raw-brick building of six rooms, four corridors and two balconies, west of the Shaki Khans' Palace. Its first-floor rooms were winter quarters with fireplaces; the upper floor served guests. The central hall of the upper floor has a decorated fireplace, wall paintings and a mirrored stalactite cornice.
Built in the second half of the 18th century, the house belonged to relatives of the Shaki khans and stands west of the Khan's Palace. A major reconstruction ordered by Azerbaijan's Ministry of Culture and Tourism began in November 2012 and was completed in August 2013.
The upper-floor hall's wall paintings follow Nizami Ganjavi's Khamsa, with miniatures of Leyli and Majnun, Khosrow and Shirin and the Seven Beauties, plus animals and birds. The ceiling shows winged maidens, and a mirrored stalactite cornice runs above a raf shelf for festive dishes.
The house stands a few blocks from the Shaki Khan Palace, west of it. Each floor has three rooms and two small halls, linked by a staircase from the ground floor to the upper one; the winter rooms with their bukharis are on the ground floor, the guest salon above. A major reconstruction ran from November 2012 to August 2013.
The upper hall's shelf, the rəf, runs above the mirrored stalactite cornice on three walls and held festive dishes; small niches above it show bouquets, animals and birds. The ceiling figures winged maidens, and the wall paintings follow Nizami's Khamsa miniatures.
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