[2] The complex contains the main building of the palace, Divanhane, the burial-vaults, the shah's mosque with a minaret, Seyid Yahya Bakuvi's mausoleum (the so-called "mausoleum of the dervish"), south of the palace, a portal in the east, Murad's gate, a reservoir and the remnants of a bath house.

There is the name of the ruler who ordered the establishment of these buildings in both inscriptions is the – Shirvan Khalil As time of construction – was marked on the tomb, 845 on the minaret of the Shah's mosque.

In 2000, this ensemble, along with the fortified walls of the historic part of the city and the Maiden Tower, was named a World Heritage Site.

[12] In the 15th[13] century the Shirvanshah dynasty, under Ibrahim I of Shirvan, transferred his capital from Shemakha to Baku following a devastating earthquake.

[6][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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

[19] 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.

The big lancet portal directly leads from the courtyard to the second floor, into a high octahedral lodging covered with a cupola.

The western facade of the rotunda is decorated with arabesques which are stylized with a portal, the channeled half-cupola of the lancet conch is supported by a system of finely modeled stalactites (mucarnases).

The features of the style and the incompleteness of the part of the decoration work allow one to date Divan-khana to the end of the 15th century, the time of the capture of Baku by the Safavid troops.

The features of the plan, the dungeon-crypt and the content of the lapidary inscription above the entrance to the hall (Koran, Sura 10, verses 26 and 27) indicate his memorial appointment.

Historian Sara Ashurbeyli believes that even in pre-Islamic times, the occupied Divan-khan territory was a sacred place (it is assumed that the cup-shaped grooves served to collect the sacrificial blood of animals)[27] In the old days, a mosque was added to the mausoleum of Seyyid Yahya Bakuvi, which was called the "old" mosque.

On the sides of the mausoleum there are three small windows carved into solid slabs of limestone, and, like in the old days, they are through-through stone gratings, consisting of multibeam stars.

[26] According to Abbaskuli aga Bakikhanov, "the cell where he prayed [Bakuvi], the school and the grave that are under the mosque named after him, still exist today".

[26] Against the backdrop of the prismatic volume, completed by two domes with slightly pointed tunnels, a deeply shaded aperture of the mosque portal is clearly drawn.

[17] Above the northeast corner of the mosque stands a minaret, ending with a stalactite cornice supporting a balcony that had a stone barrier before.

This portal repeats the compositional reception of the Divan-khan portal, but in comparison with the latter it is somewhat easier to interpret (the stalactite arch consists of only four rows of stalactites, the side walls are smoothly solved, no niches,[26] and only tympanum of the arches, a number of inscriptions in the font "nash" – Koranic (Surah XII, verse 92nd) and hadith.

In each medallion, the same inscription is repeated twice (in direct and mirror image) and contains the following words: Allah Muhammad Ali (an architect).

The inscription above the entrance to the portal dates the construction of the burial vault 839 (1435/36) and reports that the tomb was built by Shirvanshah Halilullah for his mother and son.

[17] The portal leads to the canopy, on the right and left side of which are located associated with the opening of small rooms, probably intended for ministers of worship.

The canopies lead to the main hall, which is cross-shaped in plan, and its central part is covered with a dome resting on the vaults of the branches of the cross and stone walls through a system of spherical sails.

[31] During the archaeological excavations in the tomb were found fragments of architectural details of tombstones in the hall, as well as a number of burials of members of the family of Halilullah.

[33] Ovdan is a spacious reservoir located deep underground, which was ventilated by means of a special vertical shaft.

[26] Images of the Shirvanshahs palace can be found in the works of such artists as Grigory Gagarin, Georgy Hohenfelden, in the photographs of Richard Thiele.