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The 50th anniversary of establishment Gobustan National Historical-Artistic Preserve and 10th anniversary of including in the UNESCO World Heritage List was celebrated. To celebrate this remarkable days with participation of Azerbaijan and foreign experts and scientists in 13-14 june the International conference "Gobustan - Rock Art at the crossroads of cultures” is held.

At the same time , this anniversary was celebrated and organized by Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) and Garadagh Executive in Gobustan National Historical- Artistic Preserve .

For the first time in 1939 a prominent archaeologist Isaac Jafarzadeh has registered petroglyphs in Jingirdagh-Yazilitapa and doing this Gobustan monuments which plays the important role in Azerbaijan history and culture presented to the science .

In the second half of XX century investigations were continued by archaelogists Jafargulu Rustamov and Firuza Muradova .

Gobustan petroglyphs distinguish for a variety of topics ,originality of plot and artistic skill dated from Upper Paleolithic to the XVIII-XIX century.

On the rocks can be found male and female, an auroch , bezoar goat , lion , gazelle, Horse , dog , wolf, boar and other descriptions.

Riders and hunting scenes , collective labor scenes , sacrificing, reaping scenes were also noted. Alone and group ceremony dances such as Yally - the national Azerbaijani dance also can be found .

In addition there are medieval inscriptions in Arabic that bases on the different periods of history of Azerbaijan and the Roman inscription confirming the presence of 12th Rome legion at the end of the 1st century in the territory .

A stone called "Gavaldash’’ situating at the foot of the north-east of Jingirdagh arouse a great interest. It is expected that these stones were used as a primitive percussion instrument for the ritual dances .

Gobustan National Historical -Artistic Preserve was founded in 1966 and began to functioning since 1967.<

20 shelters and 40 burial mounds - kurgans were found from the territory. As a result, more than 6,300 rock carvings carved on the 1031 rocks and 105 000 pieces of archaeological material have been included in the reserve fund.

According to the resolution that was accepted in 6 november 2007 by decision of the Cabinet of Ministers Azerbaijan Republic Gobustan got National status.

In 2013 in the Europian Museum Forum Gobustan museum was one of the 8 museums which were awarded “European Museum of the Year Award”. In 2015 Gobustan was included to the PRAT-CARP cultural route.

Azerbaijan National Internet Award NETTY which is organized with the support of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, was presented to the winners for the 13 th time .

The representatives of major IT companies in the country, NETTY award nominees, mass media representatives and numerous guests were represented at the ceremony which was held in “Dan ulduzu” hall of Park Inn hotel.

At the ceremony, it was noted that NETTY has been successfully held for more than 10 years.

This year, the Expert Council and the Virtual Jury Staff held a parallel voting to determine the nominees.

Traditionaly in the contest of corresponding nominations (“Azerbaijan”,”State website”,” Science and education”,”Culture and art” ,“Society ”, “Information and news”,”Service website”,”Corporate website”, “The best website in the field of e-commerce”,” Sports”,”Personal website”, The choice of virtual jury”) was announced the best sites in Azerbaijan.

According to voting of electronic council and virtual jury in “Culture and art” nomination – Website of Gobustan National Historical-Artistic Preserve (gobustan-rockart.az) was awarded the NETTY 2017 prize.

The meeting named as “Novruz in Gobustan” was held on April 18, 2015, in Gobustan National Historical-Artistic preserve. The employees of Yanardag, Gala, Ateshgah and Pir-Huseynkhan preserves and the staff of the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum and House-Museum of Jalil Mammadguluzadeh, along with the students and teachers of Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts, participated at the meeting.

First, visitors got acquaintance with Gobustan preserve and its sites, then, Yalli dance was performed by the students of Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts.

After the director Malahat Farajova’s greeting, Shakir Albaliyev, associate of the Folklore Institute of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, gave information about scientific and philosophical conception of Novruz. The artistic part of the meeting was performed by the students of the secondary special school named after Bulbul.

The tree planting action on the occasion of the 18th April International Monuments and Historical Places Day and 22nd April Worldwide Earth Day was held in Gobustan National Historical-Artistic preserve on April 24, 2015. Along with the museum staff, pupils of Gobustan and Alat schools and some foreign visitors also joined the campaign.

Initially, the director of Gobustan National Historical-Artistic preserve, Malahat Farajova informed visitors about the natural landscape of Gobustan and said that this action is continuously held each year in Gobustan.

Almost one hundred trees were planted. The seedlings were meticulously fixed and watered.

At the end, the necessity of taking regular measures for caring and keeping the planted trees was noted.

Before being brought to the capital of the First European Games, the Baku-2015 Flame made its last stop in Gobustan National Historical-Artistic preserve on June 6, 2015.

The final stage of the relay race outside the capital city has started from near the Archeological Museum in Gobustan National Reserve. Sabina Qadirova, the winner of the “Tomorrow’s Scientists’ contest, the History Olympiad, and the “Heydar Aliyev-92 essay” contest, started the 1.8-km race.

Minaxanim Bayramova, Aysel Ismayilli, Imran Hasanov, Nilgun Maharramova, Adil Aliyev, Suleyman Mahmudov, Kamilla Bayramova and Elxan Aliyev have also participated in this torch relay.

The race was concluded with Leyla Zeynalova, an international contest laureate who has rekindled another flame of Baku-2015 and has been granted presidential stipend, entering a stage set up on the road. 

The event continued with an artistic program dedicated to Baku-2015. 

The flame, which is a gift from Baku-2015 to the national park, was presented to Gobustan National Historical-Artistic Preserve by Narmin Huseynli.

The participant of the relay race, Leyla Zeynalova shared her impressions: "What a wonderful day! To be honest, I am very excited. It is a great honor to be a torch-bearer in the place of thousand years’ history, to carry the symbol of the First European Games and to light up the torch at the stage. I am very glad the First European Games are to be held in our country. Such sport contests will increase the glory of our country. Good Luck to all our sportsmen!"

The workshop under the name “Application of the International Experience to the Organization of the Museum Work in Gobustan Preserve” was held in Gobustan National-Historical Artistic preserve on January 28, 2015. Students and teachers of the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts and Baku Slavic University participated at the workshop. After the acquaintance with Gobustan museum and its sites, presentations reflecting the functioning of the preserve and its international relations, were demonstrated to the participants of the workshop. The director of the preserve Malahat Farajova with her presentation on the topic “The Archeological Heritage of Gobustan within the World Heritage Context” spoke about a conception of the World Heritage and informed the participants about international relations of the preserve.

Other preserve workers’ presentations such as Rahman Abdullayev’s “The Working Principles of Museums Specialized in Rock Art”, Elnara Adigozelzadeh’s “The Role of UNESCO Conventions in the Organization of Museum Function” and Said Rzayev’s “Bulgarian History and Archeological Complex”, were demonstrated to the young specialists in museum management and informed them about the experience that was gained as a result of collaboration of the preserve with authoritative international organizations and museums.