Azerbaijan discloses number of mosques destroyed in Shusha [UPDATE]

By Trend

According to the preliminary results of the assessment of monuments in Azerbaijan’s Shusha city, 11 mosques were destroyed in the city, chairman of the Public Association of the Organization for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments in the Liberated Territories of Azerbaijan, member of the working group created in connection with the assessment and inventory in Shusha city Faig Ismayilov told Trend on Dec. 21.

“There is not a single historical and cultural monument which remained intact in the city,” chairman said.

“The mission of our group was to monitor historical and cultural monuments in Shusha, explore the state of monuments in these territories and reveal monuments which must be restored and conserved, as well as to carry out design work,” Ismayilov said.

“We witnessed big destruction during our observations,” chairman said. “Most of the houses of the 18th-19th centuries have only walls left of them. Most of the monuments that have been registered by the state have been razed to the ground, various buildings have been built in their place."

“Some 11 mosques were completely destroyed in Shusha,” Ismayilov said. “Although nine mosques remained in their original form, they must be overhauled.”

"The work was carried out to "restore" the caravanserais (a roadside inn where travelers could rest) in Shusha, which is unacceptable as the occupants changed them in their own style,” chairman added. “If the Armenians stayed there a little longer, then nothing at all would have remained of the history of Shusha."

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