The sculptures from the park in the courtyard of Shushi State Museum of Fine Arts have been completely removed, monumentwatch.org website reports.

"During his visit to Shushi on May 11 2023, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev participated in the opening of a photo exhibition dedicated to Heydar Aliyev organized in the former Shushi State Museum of Fine Arts.

The video clearly shows that the sculptures placed at the entrance of the museum are no longer there, nor are the works displayed in the halls. The condition and location of all works that make up the collection of the Shushi Museum remain unknown.

We can also state that the grove of sculptures of modern artists in the courtyard of the Shushi Museum of Fine Arts has been completely removed, and the fate of the works also remains unknown. [The situation] was reported back in August 15 2021, thanks to the satellite photos published by Caucasus Heritage Watch, which was referred to by the team of the "Monitoring the Cultural Heritage of Artsakh" project.

Azerbaijan displaced the entire collection of the Shushi State Museum of Fine Arts, both from the exhibition halls and the vicinity of the museum. The park of monumental sculptures in the inner courtyard of the museum has been completely destroyed and, based on the video, the two sculptures on either side of the entrance are also missing. The current state and location of the rich collection of artistic, cultural and historical value remains unknown and alarming.

The destruction of the Shushi State Museum of Fine Arts is another manifestation of Azerbaijani vandalism, which is a gross violation of a number of provisions of international conventions and declarations undertaken by Azerbaijan.
According to Article 4 of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, any act of vandalism, theft, pillage, misappropriation, hostilities, and reprisals against cultural heritage is prohibited.

According to the first Hague Protocol of 1954, it is forbidden to destroy properties of cultural or spiritual values in the occupied territories. The Second Hague Protocol of 1999 [to the 1954 Hague Convention] reaffirms this requirement and qualifies such an act as an international crime under Article 15.

Acts of destruction of cultural property are also prohibited by four international conventions and protocols of Geneva of August 12 1949 on the protection of victims of war, on the law of war and the law of armed conflict, as well as relevant UN resolutions and Human Rights Protection treaties.”