We went to the main room around which the Shirvanshah Palace was built. This was an eight-sided hall. “This shape is typical of mausoleums,” our guide said. “This might have originally been the mausoleum of a holy person, and they decided to build a palace in a holy place. Before the Islamic period this area was famous for the biggest concentration of Zoroastrian temples, and later Christian churches.” As we looked at the stalactite and stalagmite decorations of the room, the guide said, “that type of decoration was adopted by the Arabians when they came here to the Zoroastrian country. Such kind of interior was typical of Zoroastrian temples, typical of their temples of fire.”