Sheki

A town in the Caucasus foothills of northwestern Azerbaijan, Sheki is set in a forested landscape of walnut and chestnut trees beside the Gurjanaçay River. The eighteenth-century Khan's Palace within the Sheki Fortress is decorated with an elaborate interior of stained-glass shebeke panels and miniature frescoes painted without the use of nails in its construction. The old caravanserai in the town center — a double-courtyard structure that once housed Silk Road merchants and their goods — has been restored and continues to serve travelers, preserving its original spatial organization.