Vagif's Poetry Days to be held in Shusha

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Vagif's Poetry Days will take place in Shusha city on August 30. 

The cultural event will be held for the first time in the poet's native city after its liberation from Armenian occupation. 

Literary symposiums, exhibitions and colorful performances will be organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation as part of the event. 

Vagif's Poetry Days will be held in front of the Molla Panah Vagif Museum-Mausoleum complex and will last  for two days.

Molla Panah Vagif is considered the founder of the realism genre in the Azerbaijani poetry. Vagif's poems have had a great influence on Azerbaijani folklore. Most of them are repeatedly used in the folk music of ashiqs. 

As vizier, Vagif did much for the prosperity and political growth of the Karabakh khanate. Also, he played an important role in organizing the defense of Shusha during the incursions of Aga Muhammad shah Qajar of Persia in 1795 and 1797.

His verses were collected for the first time in 1856 and published by Mirza Yousif Nersesov.

Soon afterwards, his verses were published by Adolf Berge in Leipzig in 1867 with the assistance of the Azerbaijani playwright Mirza Fatali Akhundov. 

The mausoleum on the grave of the Azerbaijani poet and statesman was built through instructions of the national leader Heydar Aliyev in 1982.

It is located in the southwestern part of Shusha, by the Jydyr Duzu plain, where the poet was killed and is a part of Shusha State Historical and Architectural Reserve. 

The mausoleum was constructed built by sculptor A. Mustafayev based on the design by a member of the National Academy of Sciences Abdul Vakhav Salamzade and well-known architect E.I. Kanukov. 

The design of the mausoleum follows the pattern of Azerbaijani mausoleums architectural compositions such as Nizami Mausoleum in Ganja. It rises to 18 meters in height.

The bottom part of the monument is built with reddish Karabakh marble plates, white and grey marble.

Aluminium is used for the decoration pattern in the entire length of the mausoleum. The poet's name was engraved above the entrance door.

As a result of Armenian aggression, Molla Panah Vagif Mausoleum has been heavily damaged in Shusha.  

The complex building and dozens of exhibits contained there were destroyed after the occupation of Shusha by Armenia in 1992. Some transportable exhibits were carried to Armenia.