Gabala archaeological centre

The city of Gabala - as the main capital city of Caucasian Albania (under the name “Kabala”) is known in written sources from the 1st century AD (according to the “Natural History” of the Roman author Pliny the Elder). However, archaeological studies date the city’s emergence to earlier  period - the 5th century BC. Thus, we can say that the city of Gabala has a 2500-year history (according to Ilyas Babayev, Teymur Bunyadov and others).

The history of the creation of the first and only Gabala Archaeological Centre in Azerbaijan is directly related to the Gabala Archaeological Project of  SEBA Association, which was launched in 2005 with the participation of Azerbaijani specialists - associates of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS), and since 2009 with the participation of Korean experts.

The official opening of Gabala Archaeological Centre took place on September 22, 2014. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev participated in the opening ceremony.

Currently, in a 3-storey building and on the territory of the Gabala Archaeological Centre, there are: 2 exhibition halls (museum), a restoration laboratory, a conference hall (with equipment for simultaneous translation), a library, a kitchen-dining room, rooms for members of the expedition and guests, an office for employees of the Gabala State Historical and Artistic Preserve of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, a building of the archaeological fund, an open-air exposition. Near the center there is a park, a restaurant, etc. for the recreation of scientists, guests, and tourists.

Exhibition halls (museum) of the center, and three sites of the ancient and medieval city center of Gabala (Ancient site, Salbir site, Gala site) located near it and where archaeological excavations are carried out are open to the public every day.

The collection of the exhibition halls (museum) consists of the findings of the Gabala Archaeological Expedition.

Address: Chukhur-Gabala village, Gabala region, Republic of Azerbaijan 

Archaeological expedition
2005-2006-2007-2008-2009-2010-2011-2012-2013-2014-2015-2016-2017-2018-2019

Publications of researches conducted by the Gabala Archaeological Expedition in 2005-2019 are realised by SEBA Association under the Gabala series.

2005-2010 Book-1 Book-2 / 2011-2012 Book-1 Book-2 / 2013 / 2014 / 2015-2016 / 2017-2018 / 2019

During the years of 2005-2019, archeological excavations were carried out annually on the territory of the Gabala State Historical and Artistic Preserve (and in other areas of Gabala region). (Note: due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Gabala Azerbaijan-Korean expedition was not carried out in 2020-2022)

Archaeological expedition

2005 / 2006 / 2007 / 2008 / 2009 / 2010 / 2011 / 2012 / 2013 / 2014 / 2015 / 2016 / 2017 / 2018 / 2019