Shusha () or Shushi () is a city in Azerbaijan. The city is a major centre of Azerbaijani culture and music.
History
Shusha was founded in 1750-1752 by Panah-Ali khan Javanshir (r. 1748-1763), the founder and the first ruler of the Karabakh Khanate (Qarabağ xanlığı - in Azerbaijani). The first capital of the Karabakh khanate was the castle of Bayat, built in 1748 in the district of Kebirli. However, soon afterwards Panah Ali khan realized that in order to secure himself and his newly established khanate from external threats, he needed to build a new more reliable castle. Shusha was turned into the capital of the Karabakh khanate.
Shusha was a popular mountainous-climatic recreation resort in Azerbaijan.
On May 8, 1992, the city was captured by the Armenian forces and all of the city's predominantly Azerbaijani population was either expelled or killed. It was recaptured by Azerbaijan on 8 November, 2020 during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, with the city's Armenian population fleeing beforehand.
References
Other websites
Shusha: from A to Z
Shusha by Travel-images.com
Shusha – the town of the dead. Photo-report.