French guests visit Azerbaijan's cultural capital PHOTO

On May 21, Loup Bommier, mayor of the French community of Gurgy-le-Château, and chief editor of the French magazine "Danser" Michel Audin visited Shusha with the support of the State Committee for Work with Diaspora and organization of the Friends of Azerbaijan Association.

According to Azertag, the guests were accompanied by Mirvari Fataliyeva, president of the House of Paris-Azerbaijan and secretary general of the Friends of Azerbaijan Association in France.

First, the guests arrived at the central square of Shusha, where monuments of famous personalities of Azerbaijan Natavan, Bulbul, and Uzeyir Hajibeyli have been erected. An employee of the Shusha State Reserve Administration informed the guests about the town and the shelled monuments. It was noted that during the occupation, Armenians wanted to take the statues to Armenia and melt them down. On the initiative of the great leader Heydar Aliyev, these sculptures were taken to Azerbaijan and kept in the yard of the Art Museum in Baku. After the liberation of Shusha from the occupation, these sculptures were returned to their original places.

Then the guests visited the fortress walls of Shusha. Here they were given information about the history of Shusha and the construction of fortress walls. It was noted that the fortress, built by Panahali Khan, founder of Karabakh Khanate, for a long time protected the city from outside interference and was a symbol of impregnability. During the occupation, the walls of the fortress were subjected to Armenian vandalism. After the liberation of Shusha from occupation, repair and restoration work was carried out in the fortress.

French guests visited Khurshidbanu Natavan house, Khan gizi spring, Uzeyir Hajibeyli monument, Ganja gate of Shusha fortress, Bulbul's house-museum, and Yukhary Govhar Agha mosque in Shusha. During the visit, information was also given on damage caused by Armenians to our cultural monuments during the occupation, and the falsification of our ancient artifacts. It was noted that after the liberation of Shusha from the occupation, large-scale restoration works were started here. Along with the creation of infrastructure, the restoration of the original appearance of the city, historical and cultural monuments has been launched in Shusha.

"By visiting Shusha you can understand why people engaged in art in Azerbaijan create their art here. Here one feels nature and hears the birds singing. These children of nature do not know about war. Looking at them, we can learn to live together in peace," Loup Bommier, mayor of the French community of Gurgy-le-Château, told Azertag during his visit to Shusha.

Stressing that people in France show little interest in mountainous regions, Bommier said: "Azerbaijani people appreciate mountainous areas, beautiful places. This is a very positive thing. After coming to Shusha I understood why these areas are so important for Azerbaijan. Because outstanding cultural figures of the country were born here. Now I understand why these territories are significant for Azerbaijan, and the return of these territories was given such great importance".

In the end, the guests arrived at Jidir Duzu, and admired the magnificent view from here. They left Shusha full of impressions.