Talish Culture, most known as Talish Mougan
Culture is one of the oldest cultures of the region. Unfortunately
this culture and generally Talishian being has not been conducted
very attentively and in details. Talish Mougan Culture covers
Talish Mountains and Mougan Lowlands and is six thousand years
old. In general it is complex of archaeological monuments. First
time in 1890 French archeolog Jack de Morgan has investigated
ancient habitation places near by and around modern villages
of Lerik town and Frenchman has discovered fascinating old monuments,
samples. In 1901 Jack and Henry de Morgan brothers have investigated
Talish cemeteries and after archaeological excavations great
number of ancient samples have been found and like that all
of this findings became part of old Talish Mougan culture.
A great
number of habitation places, sand barrows ancient tumulus
have been found on the areas covered by Talish Mougan culture.
Dolmen tombs, barrows of tombs (vault like) and stone boxed
coffins are characteristic for the cemeteries of the towns
of Veri, Tulu etc (LERIK, Lankaran regions).
In
some cases coffins are fenced by holders. In poorly and expensively
equipped coffins people buried in collective, double and single
(generally recumbent, seating, wrapped) forms. Typical for
Talish Mougan culture are; swords with foil like points and
with non lined holsters; axes, spears, bows of Middle East
style etc.
Clay
earthen wares are generally colored and ornamentally decorated,
there are also rough samples with no colors and decorations
this samples are older ones, all of this historic monuments
are of different types and were for different uses in the
households of Proto Talishes. Kettle formed earth wares and
round; two handle formed glasses are very and very close to
earth wares of Krit-Mikena culture.
Many
features of Talish Mougan culture and archaeological materials
of this culture show that they are the oldest ones in Caucasus
region and proving wide cultural-economic relations that inhabitants
of the region could have with Middle Asian (Palestine, Syria
etc) and Mediterranean Sea regions.
Cultural
heritage of Talish zone is very rich and contains wide areas
from industry to weaving. From the past Talish zone is known
as a great zone for metal and metallic industry, specialists
characterize this region as one of five main metal centers
in Caucasus.
HERE
ARE THE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
LANKARAN
MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND COUNTRY STUDYING
The
Museum of History and Contry Studying was established beginning
in the 1960’s. In 1978 the opening ceremony of the new, History
and Country Studying Museum meeting the modern standards with
a plenty of museum expositions. In 1977, after the Decree
of the Azerbaijani Cabinet of Ministers the museum was named
after famous journalist, known as museum worker in Lankaran
Mirza Aghali Aziz oglu Aliyev.
At
present the museum is in the house of Mir Ahmad khan which
was built in 1913.
There
are more than 6000 expositions in the museum. 540 out of these
is about ethnography, 236 archeology, 843 is about the examples
of the folk arts.
Lankaran
is one of the earlier cradles of population.
You
can find in the museum different kinds of swords, arrows,
archery, decorations- earrings, necklaces, and others belonging
to the Bronze Age. These were found in different places of
the region. Bronze needle found in the place called "Sighon"(Stones)
attracts the attention of the visitors. The Bronze Age expositions
date back to the IV-II millenniums B.C.
Jars,
lamps of different shape once more indicate to the ancient
history of the region. Some of those objects were found in
the surroundings of Ballabur tower. Most of those objects
were discovered in different parts of the Lankaran region.
Most
of the ancient cultural expositions were destroyed either
by the aggressive attacks of the invaders, or were taken to
the foreign countries by visitors and travelers. In 1886-89
French traveler-scientist Jacques de Morgan made archeological
researches in the Ballabur Tower and took the valuable historical
discoveries abroad. He had studied more than 230 grave monuments
in Talish.
According
to the historical sources Talish -Mughan Culture started since
the second half of the IV Millennium-beginning of the III
millenniums B.C.
Today
the old towers are great source for the study of the ancient
history. One of those is the Ballabur Tower, which is located
9 km away from the Lankaran City. Ballabur means "high
tower" in translation from Talish Language. This tower
was one of the main strongholds of Khurramids (anti Arab movement
in Azerbaijan, IX century), lead by Babek.
In
the museum you can see great number of materials describing
the culture, ethnography of the whole region. Copper smith,
ceramics, weaving, jewelry, gold smith were the mostly spread
areas of crafts in Lankaran. The expositions in the museums,
crop of the old craftsmen are very beautiful and they make
great impression on everybody who visits the museum. The ornaments
are very unique and beautiful. The clay samovar jars and other
objects of everyday use are the heritage from the past centuries.
So
whenever you visit Lankaran, visit the beautiful Museum which
is in the center of the City and the beautiful expositions
of the museum will make great impressions on you.
ARCHITECTUAL
BUILDINGS
Khan
Evi (Khan’s palace) – is one of the oldest and most beautiful
architectural buildings of Lankaran. The construction of the
house was finished by the year of 1913. The architects of
the house used the elements of the national architecture with
great mastership. The facades of the house are decorated with
precious ornaments. French masters and architects had built
the building in the eclectic style. Some of the construction
materials were brought to Lankaran from Baku by sea. This
was the first multistoried building in Lankaran. Its northern
and western facades were constructed with bricks and white
stones. Eastern and southern parts were made only with bricks.
The entrance is in the northern part. The house is situated
in opposite to "Dostluq Park".
Minaret
in front of the Kichik Bazar Mosque (27 meters height). Lankaranians
called it Guldasta. The construction date of the Minara is
the same with the Kichik Bazar Mosque, 1904. It was destroyed
by the totalitarian regime in 1937.
Mosques
of Lankaran. There are two main mosques in Lankaran. One of
them is in Kichik Bazar (1904), the other one in the Boyuk
Bazar (XIX century). The old villages have their own mosques
since the ancient times. The oldest village mosque, Haji Novruzali
is in Sutamurdov village. Today there are mosques in almost
all villages of the region.
Lighthouse.
The building was built between 1747-86 together with the Lankaran
Tower. It was used as a stronghold during the wars till 1869.
At the same year the military tower was liquidated and the
building was given to the City Office. The city office constructed
minaret on the top of the building and equipped it with lights.
After that the building was used by the Caspian Navy as a
lighthouse. The height is 30,5 meters up to the light bulb;
with light equipment it is 33,4 meters. The building was renovated
in 1957 and the wide round part of the tower was covered with
iron.
THEATER
The
formation of the theater dates back to the 19th century. The
1st play was performed in 1850. About it the newspaper "Severnaya
Pchela" wrote: "The theater amateurs have performed
dozens of plays. At last they could perform the comedy "Gore
ot Uma" by the famous Russian playwright Griboyedov.
The money collected from the play was spent for the poor."(1850,
#91). In 1903 T. Bayramalibayov organized amateur theater
group. Here the local teachers performed the leading parts.
In June – July 1905 H. Arablinski, the great actor of Azerbaijan
visited Lankaran with his group of actors. They performed
the tragedy " Musibati Fakhraddin" by Vazirov. It
was the first onstage success of the actor. In 1906 – 09 the
drama and choir circles led by Muslim Magomayev were multinational.
They performed plays both in Russian and Azeri. Hashim Sadigov,
Gulam Zulfugarov, Hashim Kalantarli etc were the famous actors
of Lankaran at the end of 19th and beginning of 20th century.
The
first drama theater in Lankaran was established in 1930 under
the leadership of S. Salimbayov. Lankaran State Drama Theater
named after N.Vazirov was built in 1973.
