Azerbaijan, Baku, May 27 / Trend I.Isabalayeva /
The Archaeology and Ethnography Institute will begin archaeological excavations in the Gulistan fortress in the Shamakhi region since June.
The institute will launch a broad archaeological research in various regions in connection with the Year of Tourism, Shamakhi-Agsu Archaeological Expedition Head Akif Guliyev said.
One of these regions is Shamakhi, the cradle of ancient science and culture of Azerbaijan.
Thw Gulistan fortress belongs to the architectural monument of the 8th-9th centuries.
This legendary castle was one of the residences of the Shirvanshakhs and occupied an important place in the history of the Azerbaijani statehood.
The fortress was rebuilt in the 12th-13th centuries. Arabs, Seljuks, Mongols and Ottomans had attacked the fortress. It was a shelter of residents of Shamakhi, where they hid during campaigns of the Khazars, Arabs, Seljuks, Georgians, Mongols, Safavid and Ottoman empires.