National Museum of History of Azerbaijan One of the biggest museums of the Caucasus, the Museum of History of Azerbaijan, is situated in the former mansion of the famous Azerbaijani oilman Haji ZeynalabdinTagiyev. The building of the museum which built […]

     

National Museum of History of Azerbaijan

One of the biggest museums of the Caucasus, the Museum of History of Azerbaijan, is situated in the former mansion of the famous Azerbaijani oilman Haji ZeynalabdinTagiyev. The building of the museum which built in 1895-1896 by Polish architect Jozef Goslawski.

Ten funds of the museum contain more than 250,000 exhibits. The museum collection of archaeological fund has about 22 000 exhibits that are mainly stone and obsidian instruments of labour of the epochs of Paleolith, Mesolite and late Stone Age; household objects made of copper, bronze, iron, examples of clay and china ware, jewellery. One of the main positions among them belongs   to the fragment of a fossil man’s lower jaw found in the Azikh cave not far from the city of Fizuli – the man called nowadays «azikhantrop» that is estimated to have lived 300-350 thousand years ago.

The numismatic fund of the museum has more than 150000 coins belonging to different historical periods. It is an exceptionally important material for studying history of the country, covering more than 2000 years, the whole history of coining and currency in Azerbaijan. Here, coins of various periods are preserved – coins of Alexander the Great, those of some Hellenistic countries (Selevkia, Parthia, Bactria, Ponta etc.); coins of great antique centers – Athens, Rome; coins of the period of the Arabic caliphate, period of feudal countries, period of Mongol invasion, as well as coins of Shirvanshahs. In ancient Azerbaijan (in Atropatena and Caucasian Albania) silver coins were already minted for the first time in III century B.C. At the period of Early Middle Ages, the cities of Nakhchivan, Baku, Barda and some others start to coin their own money. Besides, the fund also has a good collection of medals, various signs, banknote, seals, postage stamps etc.

The ethnographic fund has in its collection about 9000 exhibits. These are examples of ware, clothes, as well as a rich collection of carpets and carpet goods. The richly decorated ware and jewelry    point to prosperity of various types of crafts and high artistic taste of the masters. The arm collection, the main part of which is the oriental type of arms, has over six hundred exhibits of various epochs and peoples. The central position in this collection belongs to cold steel and fire-arms of the Caucasus, which is, according to the quality and quantity of the exhibits, one of the biggest collections of Caucasian arms. The most interesting part in this exposition is represented by the famous Caucasian daggers that won world’s recognition by its battle peculiarities and artistic expression.

Address: 4 H.Z.Tagiyev  str.

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