Vagif Mausoleum ( az, Vaqif türbəsi or ) is a mausoleum located in

Shusha / hy, Շուշի , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = ShushaCollection2021.jpg , image_caption = Landmarks of Shusha, from top left:Ghazanchetsots Cathedral • Yukhari Govha ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

. It is built to honor

Molla Panah Vagif Molla Panah ( az, Molla Pənah), better known by his pen-name Vagif (), was an 18th-century Azerbaijani poet, statesman and diplomat. He is regarded as the founder of the realism genre in Azerbaijani poetry. He served as the vizier—the minist ...

, a poet, diplomat and

vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called '' katib'' (secretary), who was ...

(the foreign minister of the

Karabakh Khanate The Karabakh Khanate was a semi-independent Turkic peoples, Turkic Khanates of the Caucasus, Caucasian khanate on the territories of modern-day Armenia and Azerbaijan established in about 1748 under Safavid dynasty, Iranian suzerainty in Karaba ...

The monument

The construction of the mausoleum started in the 1970s and was completed in 1982. It was inaugurated by then the First Secretary of

Communist Party of Azerbaijan The Azerbaijan Communist Party ( az, Azərbaycan Kommunist Partiyası; russian: Коммунистическая партия Азербайджана) was the ruling political party in the Azerbaijan SSR, making it effectively a branch of the ...

Heydar Aliyev Heydar Alirza oghlu Aliyev ( az, Һејдәр Әлирза оғлу Әлијев, italic=no, Heydər Əlirza oğlu Əliyev, ; , ; 10 May 1923 – 12 December 2003) was a Soviet and Azerbaijani politician who served as the third president of Az ...

. The mausoleum was built by sculptor A. Mustafayev based on the design by a member of the National Academy of Sciences Abdul Vakhab Salamzade and well-known architect E.I. Kanukov. It is located in the southwestern part of Shusha, by the Jidir Duzu plain, where the poet was killed and is a part of

Shusha State Historical and Architectural Reserve Shusha ( az, Şuşa, ) or Shushi ( hy, Շուշի) is a city in Azerbaijan, in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Situated at an altitude of 1,400–1,800 metres (4,600–5,900 ft) in the Karabakh mountains, the city was a mountain reso ...

. The design of the mausoleum follows the pattern of Azerbaijani mausoleums architectural compositions such as Nizami Mausoleum in Ganja. It is 18 meters tall. The bottom part of the monument is built with reddish Karabakh marble plates, white and grey marble. Aluminium is used for the decoration pattern in the entire length of the mausoleum. The poet's name was engraved above the entrance door. Azerbaijani state media has claimed that the mausoleum has been vandalized by Armenian forces following the

capture of Shusha The Battle of Shusha) and by Azerbaijanis as the Occupation of Shusha ( az, Şuşanın işğalı) was the first significant military victory by Armenian forces during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. The battle took place in the strategically i ...

in 1992. The state of the mausoleum steadily deteriorated during the Armenian control over the town from 1992 to 2020. On 17 March 2021, the reconstruction of the mausoleum was announced. On 29 August, 2021, the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, inaugurated the restored mausoleum.

Gallery

File:Stamps of Azerbaijan, 2006-734.jpg, Azerbaijani stamp depicting the mausoleum File:Vagif now.png, The mausoleum in 2012 File:Ilham Aliyev and his family in front of the ruined Vagif Mausoleum.jpg, Ilham Aliyev with family in front of the mausoleum File:Vagif Mausoleum during renovation.jpg, Mausoleum during renovation

References

{{Shusha State Historical and Architectural Reserve Buildings and structures completed in 1982 Monuments and memorials in Shusha Mausoleums in Azerbaijan Architecture in Azerbaijan Monuments and memorials built in the Soviet Union Tourist attractions in Azerbaijan 1982 establishments in the Soviet Union