The Department of Registration and Passporting of Archaeological Monuments was established in 1993 under the name “Collection of Archaeological Monuments” on the initiative of Abuzar Ibrahim oglu Alakbarov. In May 2024, the name of the department was changed to “Registration and passporting of archaeological monuments” department.
It consists of determining the GPRS coordinates of the archaeological monuments of Azerbaijan, the discovered or newly discovered monuments, determining their period according to the existing criteria, registering them, dividing the monuments into groups according to the degree of importance, and organizing the preparation of collections by regions. At present, a special commission has been organized in connection with the determination of the boundaries of the reserves and protection strips registered on the territory of the Republic. From this point of view, monuments in the register are classified according to the degree of importance by dividing them into three groups – immovable historical and cultural monuments of world country and local importance. A total of 6308 immovable historical and cultural monuments are under state protection in our country, 82 of which are of world importance, 2059 of which are of national importance, and 4167 of which are of local importance.
As a result of the monitoring carried out in the territory of the country in recent years, more than 1400 objects of historical, architectural and archaeological importance, which were not included in the previous lists, were identified and registered as newly discovered historical and cultural monuments. The main task of the department is the maintenance of monuments located in the territory of Azerbaijan in accordance with the State Program for the period 2014-2020 on the restoration and protection of immovable historical and cultural monuments, improvement and development of the activity of historical and cultural reserves, approved by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. It consists of assessing the level of protection of existing monuments, conducting monitoring and ensuring their inclusion in the register together with the employees of the State Service for the Protection, Development and Restoration of Cultural Heritage.
As a result of the department’s activities, the GPRS coordinates of many newly discovered monuments were assigned and passported, and the object proposed to be taken under state protection as an archaeological monument in the South-Eastern regions of Azerbaijan was given an opinion on the inclusion in the list of “State Service for the Protection, Development and Restoration of Cultural Heritage” sent. Also, the department prepares an opinion form on monuments proposed to be removed from the list of archaeological monuments. When giving an opinion, the importance of the monument, history, classification, location plan, inventory number, assessment of the current (technical) condition of the monument based on visual observation, geographic coordinates, and technological innovation were evaluated. The collection of monuments of Southeast Azerbaijan, which is the result of work in this direction, is about to be completed.
Other activities of the department include ensuring that newly discovered monuments of other regions of Azerbaijan are sent to the register. Currently, the created commission continues with the Baku-Absheron and Karabakh monuments together with the representatives of the State Service for the Protection, Development and Restoration of Cultural Heritage.
From December 2021, the department continues to operate under the leadership of Mikayil Mubariz oghlu Mustafayev.
Employees of the “Registration and passporting of archaeological monuments”
- Mikayil Mubariz oghlu Mustafayev – department head, doctor of philosophy in history, associate professor
- Namig Nabi oglu Huseynli – leading researcher, doctor of philosophy in history
- Orkhan Kamran oglu Aliyev – scientific worker, doctor of philosophy in history
- Ahliman Imran oghlu Abdurrahmanov – scientific worker
- Shafaq Ramiz gizi Aghayeva – junior researcher
- Mahiyeddin Hasan oglu Seyidov – junior researcher
- Lala Shahbal gizi Nasirova – junior researcher
- Ulker Asker gizi Jamalova – senior laboratory assistant