In the 15th[1] century the Shirvanshah dynasty, under Ibrahim I of Shirvan, transferred his capital from Shemakha to Baku following a devastating earthquake. He committed himself to the construction of the "palace".[2][clarification needed] The building is believed to be a memorial complex built around the sacred place of worship (pir) and tomb of Seyyid Yaxya Bakuvi who was a Helwati Sufi saint. The Shirvanshahs were patrons of the Helwati Sufiye order, and Shirvanshah Khalilullah I was buried with his family in the grounds of the palace. Other historians argue that the building was used as the ruler's palace. Both theories suffer from the absence of evidence. It is known that wells inside the grounds of the "palace" were considered to have healing qualities until recent times, as was the hill where the palace was built.

After the Safavid conquest of Baku in 1501, the Sufi order was expelled. Over centuries the "palace" fell into ruin and was known in Baku as Baku Khans palace; this toponym moved into Russian historiography, first cited by Bartold.

Until 1501, there was not any information found about the building of the palace. According to one of the Persian chronicles, in 1501 the troops of Shirvanshakh Farrukh-yessar, the son Khalil-ully I, were defeated in Shemakha by the troops of Shah Ismail I from the Safavid dynasty. Farrukh-yessar was killed in the Battle of Shirvanshah; the troops of Ismail I, having defeated near Shemakha, moved to Baku, besieged it and after several assaults took the city.[3] Then, a tall building of Shirvanshahs was destroyed due to the order of Shah Ismail I. After a while, the city of Baku and its entire district, as well as Shirvan, were governed by the governors who were placed by the Safavids. There is not any detailed information about the people who lived in the palace and in what state it was in the first half of the 16th century.[4]

In the second half of the 16th century, there was a war between the Safavids and the Ottoman Empire. In 1578, the Turks conquered Baku. From the time of the rule of the Ottoman Empire in the palace area, the gate in the palace wall surrounding the palace from the east has been preserved. From the inscription placed on the portal of this gate, it follows that they were built during the reign of the Turkish sultan Murad III (1574–1595 years of rule).[5]

Due to the literary works, there were Turkish pashas living in the palace at that time. The East Gate is a witness of this.[6]

Since the 17th century, the palace was empty, and there were not any government officials. The abbot of the monastery and the representative of the Isfahan mission Capuchin Pater Raphael du Mans in his essay in 1660 described Shirvanshah Palace in Baku fortress and gave information about its desolation and destruction. In 1723, Baku was besieged by the troops of Peter I, and the city was bombed. In this regard, the south-eastern facades of the palace suffered much. The palace was transferred to the Russian military department in the middle of the 19th century.[4]

The Russian military department made a partial renovation of the palace. At the same time, the significant restructuring was carried out, which adapted the palace facilities to warehouses for military equipment. Repairs carried out by the military department, along with the restoration of the destroyed parts, and led to the destruction of a number of parts required for the restoration of the palace.[7] By adapting the building of the palace to the warehouse, the military department demolished a number of walls separating the rooms in the second and first floors, and there were semi-circular arches supporting the roof instead of them on the second floor.

The remains of domed, lancet and cross-slabs were destroyed in all the rooms on the second floor; they were replaced by flat beams. And window openings (double-glazed windows) of the second floor were laid out so that only small windows remained. New wide doorways were pierced.[8]

During this period, the Eastern Orthodox Church in Baku sought the demolition of the palace to build a Baku cathedral in its place. However, this petition was rejected by the tsarist authorities only because the premises of the palace were used for large warehouses.[4]

There was an entrance made to the second floor of the northern facade of the palace and a huge opening was punched in the wall. This was done so that the cart drawn by the horses from the street could enter the second floor of the palace. After making the above-mentioned reorganization, the military department attached a ladder to the eastern facade of the palace, and the entire southern (or lower) courtyard was surrounded by a stone wall with loopholes. This wall was erected from a foundation left from the old walls surrounding the palace.[9] The palace ensemble is now protected by fortress walls erected in the first half of the 19th century.[10]

During existence of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (1918–1920), a number of measures were taken to study and fix architectural monuments. Thus, at the end of 1918, the dimensional drawings of the Shirvanshahs Palace were made by the Ishmael Bek Nabi oglu, the architectural engineer. At the beginning of 1920, several cycles of lectures on the fate of the palace were read in the "Society for the Study of the Muslim East" by Ismail bek Nabi oglu. The periodical press indicated that the report was illustrated by various photographs and drawings of the palace. After the reports and debates, the presidium of the society was elected, which included chairman Professor Zimin, Comrade chairman I Belyaev, secretary-teacher Seidov and Kazioni Subkhanverdikhanov. The meeting instructed the presidium to organize an excursion to the palace in the near future.[8]

In 1920, the government of the Azerbaijani SSR began to take measures to protect the monument. Since 1920, the cleaning of the palace from the age-old layers of garbage and partial repairs began, accompanied by archaeological reconnaissance.[8]

In 1924 the works were continued. After the extensive repair and restoration works of 1932–1934, conducted by AzCUOP together with the Moscow State Restoration Workshops for projects designed by architect Boris Zasypkin, the building of the former Shirvanshah palace was given to the Azerbaijan History Museum AzFAN. Since the clay floors were fragile, and the building of the palace was intended for the organization of a museum in it, during the repair and restoration work the floors were covered with parquet. Also during the works from the window openings were laid the stones laid in the 19th century, and they were returned to their original appearance. The original layout of the second floor was not restored, due to the fact that the premises were supposed to be a museum: where there are only two rooms, there were originally eight rooms. The plan of the first floor was completely restored.[11]

In 1937–1938 under the guidance of archaeologist Vadim Leviatov, archaeological excavations were carried out in the palace and a large number of artifacts dating from the 12th–15th centuries were found. The archaeological excavations conducted by Leviatov in 1945 on the territory of the palace ensemble, deep beneath the foundations of the surviving buildings, revealed the remains of a once densely populated residential quarter. Numerous fragments of ceramic products and coins date it to the 8th–9th centuries.[12]

For some time, the Azerbaijan People's Museum and the Museum of the History of Religion were located in the palace building. In 1960, the palace was turned into an architectural reserve, which in 1964 was transformed into the State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve "Complex of the Shirvanshahs Palace".[13]

In 1992, new restoration works began. The author of the restoration project of the palace complex was Niyazi Rzayev. Restoration began from the throne room.[14] In 2000, at the 24th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, the historical part of the city of Baku, Icheri Sheher, along with the palace, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site from Azerbaijan.[4] These were the first objects included in the list of UNESCO, located on the territory of Azerbaijan. In 2006, the next restoration of the palace was completed.[15]

In 2017, the Maiden Tower and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs were awarded with the Certificate of Excellence.[16]