House-museum of the great Azerbaijani composer, musicologist-scientist, publicist, playwright, pedagogue and public figure, founder of modern Azerbaijani professional music and national opera Uzeyir Hajibeyov in Shusha.
This house was built in the XIX century in Shusha. In 1959, with the support of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, the National Museum of History of Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Culture and the Music Foundation, Uzeyir Hajibeyov’s house-museum was opened. Initially, the museum consisted of 4 rooms. The first room of the museum exhibited valuable materials from the first years of Uzeyir Hajibeyov’s life – exhibits from his student years, as well as photos of relatives and family members until 1920. The museum’s exposition includes rich objects related to the composer’s first works – manuscripts of his first works. In the second, third and fourth rooms there were exhibits belonging to the composer’s Soviet period and covering his enthusiastic activity. There is also a statue of the composer in the second room. Before the occupation of the Armenian Armed Forces, the museum had about 1,700 exhibits. During the occupation, only 136 personal belongings belonging to Uzeyir Hajibeyov were liberated from the occupation of the Armenian Armed Forces and brought to his house museum in Baku. About 1,600 exhibits were destroyed by the Armenian Armed Forces.
In 1985, in connection with the 100th anniversary of the composer, the museum was further expanded. One part of the building was turned into a two-storey and the other part into a one-storey memorial house. Many items from organizations subordinated to the Ministry of Culture, including the Museum of History of Azerbaijan, were donated to the museum, and a plaster statue of Uzeyir Bey was erected.
In 1978, Uzeyir Hajibeyov’s house-museum was repaired and a fountain complex was put into operation in the yard.
Until 1992, it operated until the occupation of Shusha by the Armenian Armed Forces, after which the museum continued its activities in the House Museum of Uzeyir Hajibeyov in Baku. After the liberation of our lands from occupation, a project was approved to restore the house museum of Uzeyir Hajibeyov in 2021. Currently, repair work is being carried out here.
