Our visit inside the Palace of Shaki Khans was really fascinating. I found many interesting things to consider and wonder at. For instance, they had a natural air cooling and ventilation system in place with no moving parts. Remember, this was originally a summer palace. Also, the entrance way had sand floors for both cooling and fire protection. They used all natural paints made from various plants and bugs. And our wonderful palace guide even pointed out some 300-year-old dust!! (I'm going to remember that when I give tours of my own house). The decorations in the entire palace were exceptional including elaborate frescoes, wood latticework, floral tile panels, and lots more from floor to ceiling.

No photos were allowed inside but, of course, I found some online and will include a couple. I want you to focus on the stained-glass windows.

These windows are unlike any I've ever seen before. They are called Shebeke. They are created by Azerbaijani folk craftsmen using colored glass and small wooden parts without any glue or nails. These shebeke were used in the palace to fill walls and windows in halls and rooms.

Shebeke art is an intangible cultural heritage that is an artistic constructive form of art from the Middle Eastern architecture and in their decorative arts and crafts. This has been used in the architecture of Azerbaijan since the 11th-12th centuries. The main "secret" of this art is assembling small glass pieces together with wood elements that fix each other in place without glue or nails. The wooden parts must have a ledge and indentation between which the small glass pieces are inserted.

We had the opportunity to meet a master shebeke artist in his home and studio. I must confess that I found it fascinating. In my own plain language, these are not so much stained-glass windows as they are stained-glass puzzles. You can take them apart and put them back together. Below, you can see him beginning to take apart a window for us to see. Also, notice the photos on the wall behind him. This is not a new art.

These are some more of his artistic pieces of shebeke. They are normally done like flat latticework, but below you can see a not-flat lamp that he made.

After all the demonstrations, including a visit to his shop, he had us put together a small shebeke creation on our own. Vicky is holding her finished project along with the artist. I did one too and both now sit in our living room, ready to take apart and put back together again. And I will tell you, that it was much harder than you might suspect.