In Axundov’s time Shaki was still an important crossroads of trade in the region. It boasted five big caravanserais built in the 18th and 19th Centuries, each named after the hometown of the merchants who stayed there, or for their ethnic group: Isfahan, Tabriz, Ermeni (for Armenians), Lezgi, and Taze (New). Only one - the biggest which later came to be called the Upper Caravanserai- has survived. It is now a three-star hotel after renovation that began in 1943.