Shirvan, Azerbaijan — Towns & Travel Guide

What is Shirvan known for?

Zubovka gave way to Ali Bayramli in 1938, and Ali Bayramli gave way to Şirvan in 2008, which leaves a city on the Kura River answering to its third name. City status came in 1963. Before that Shirvan spent the years from 1938 to 1954 as a village, and the settlements of Hajigarahmanly and Bairamly are counted inside its territory.

Where is Shirvan?

The Kura River carries the city. Shirvan stands on that river in Azerbaijan, and the river is the only natural feature the record fixes to the place, with no mountain, no coast and no lake set down beside it. The territory runs to 72.7 square kilometres.

That figure covers more than the built-up core, because the settlements of Hajigarahmanly and Bairamly are counted inside it alongside Shirvan itself. Temperate conditions hold across the year, in the northern hemisphere band the entry assigns and nothing more specific than that. Names are the other geography here.

Zubovka was the label until 1938, Ali Bayramli until 2008, and Şirvan since then, so a map drawn in any of those periods marks the same ground on the Kura River under a different word. The city's status shifted as well. From 1938 to 1954 the place was a village, and city status did not arrive until January 1963, which makes Shirvan a municipality of the modern period whatever the age of the ground it occupies.

Azerbaijan supplies the wider frame, and the Kura River supplies the local one, with Hajigarahmanly and Bairamly filling out the territory between them.

What is Shirvan like?

Language is the clearest cultural fact. Azerbaijani accounts for almost the whole of Şirvan, while the record also lists Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars and Turks among the people counted in the city, which makes it more mixed than a single-language description would suggest. No festival or museum is listed.

What the entry offers instead is a demographic sketch and a sequence of names, and both say more about the twentieth century than about any older tradition attached to the ground. The Kura River runs past all of it. Three names describe one city.

Zubovka held until 1938, Ali Bayramli followed and lasted until 2008, and Şirvan is what the place answers to afterwards, which means older accounts and newer ones can describe the same streets under different headings. Two settlements come with the city. Hajigarahmanly and Bairamly are counted inside Shirvan rather than beside it, so the municipal identity covers more ground than the built-up centre alone does.

Anyone arriving expecting heritage streets will find the record pointing instead at a river, a set of names and a mixed roll of the people who live along it.

What is the history of Shirvan?

Dates run through this record. Zubovka was the name until 1938, the place was a village from 1938 to 1954, and city status arrived on 4 January 1963, by which time it was called Ali Bayramli. The name in use dates from 2008. Şirvan replaced Ali Bayramli that year, closing a sequence of three names for one city on the Kura River.

What is the climate of Shirvan?

The entry is thin on weather. Shirvan falls in the temperate band of the northern hemisphere, and the Kura River beside it is the only feature that could plausibly be named as an influence, since no mountain or coast appears anywhere in the description. No averages are given. Şirvan, Hajigarahmanly and Bairamly all sit within the same temperate band and the same territory.

How do you get to Shirvan?

No route is set down. The record for Shirvan names no railway, no highway and no operator, leaving the Kura River and the city's position within Azerbaijan as the only navigational facts on offer. Two settlements come inside the city limits.

Hajigarahmanly and Bairamly are part of Şirvan rather than stops on the way to it, so an address in either still counts as arriving in the city.