The brick minaret
Seen across the old town.
Interfase — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Urek Meniashvili — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Urek Meniashvili — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Urek Meniashvili — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Petar Milošević — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Friday mosque of historic Shaki, on UNESCO's World Heritage list together with its khans' palace, built in the nineteenth century in the old town on the slopes of the Caucasus. It is a long building of stone and brick with many arched windows, beside a tall brick minaret with stepped decoration, visible across the old town. The prayer hall is spacious and bright, with a wooden ceiling on slender columns, chandeliers and red carpets, and a women's gallery upstairs. The courtyard has a small garden and a library building. The mosque is busy with worshippers, and Shaki's people gather here for Friday prayers. Entry is free. Modest dress is expected, women cover their hair, shoes come off in the prayer hall, and visits are best outside prayer times. It is a few minutes' walk from the Palace of the Shaki Khans and the old caravanserai, so make it part of an old-town walk, and taste the famous Shaki halva, with its thin layers and syrup, in the shops around.
Seen across the old town.
Wooden ceiling and chandeliers.
In the shops around.
Old town of Shaki, near the Palace of the Shaki Khans
Yes, outside prayer times, in modest dress, with women covering their hair and shoes removed.
