Sheki Khan's Palace and Old Town

UNESCO World Heritage Site: Historic Centre Of Sheki With The Khan'S Palace (2019). A Silk Road Trading Town On The Caucasus Slope With An 18th Century Summer Palace Of The Sheki Khans, Famous For Its Shebeke Stained Glass Windows, And Caucasian Caravanserais. · Sheki, Sheki

Sheki is a silk-road town on the southern slope of the Greater Caucasus, about 320 km from Baku, and its historic centre was listed by UNESCO in 2019. The heart of it is the Khan's Palace, a tiny summer residence built in 1797 inside the old fortress walls. It was built without nails, and its glory is the shebeke, windows of wooden lattice set with thousands of pieces of coloured glass that throw jewel light across the rooms. The walls carry frescoes of flowers and hunting scenes. Around it, cobbled lanes lead to the Upper and Lower Caravanserais, silk workshops, and sweet shops selling the layered rice-flour halva. The valley is cool and green, often wet, and the Caucasus rises behind. Plan at least one night: the road from Baku takes five to six hours, and Sheki is best on a slow evening after the day trippers have left. Come for the glass light, the sweets and the clay-pot stew, and leave time to wander without a plan. The town is small, friendly and slow, and most of its charm is found on foot between the sights.

Mountain-town historic centre at the foot of the Greater Caucasus in north-west Azerbaijan, with the Khan's Palace inside the Sheki fortress about 320 km from Baku, Sheki, Sheki, Azerbaijan

The Khan's Palace keeps daytime hours most days, roughly from morning to late afternoon, with shorter winter hours and a lunch or weekly closing in some seasons, so confirm locally. The old town lanes are open at all hours and cost nothing. The caravanserai hotel is open round the clock to guests, while the workshops and halva shops follow shop hours and may close early in the evening.

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