Mentioned in historical sources since medieval times, the town of Shaki (Nukhni in Azeri) was a small but notable economic and religious center for the Eastern Armenian population. According to the encyclopedia ‘Armenian Diaspora’, there were more than eight thousand Armenians in Shaki in 1916. During that decade, several photographers were based in the city, the most significant of which was P. M. Pirzadyants. Judging from the few surviving photographs, Pirzadyants’ customers were mostly Shaki's affluent Armenian families. These photographs are of exceptional historical value today, as the native Armenian population of this region was subjected to brutal massacres and deportation by the Azerbaijani forces between 1918-20. The photographer’s professionally and tastefully made portraits indicate the highly developed living and cultural standards of this local community. It is most probably that Pirzadyants’ practice ended during the Armenian-Azeri clashes at the end of 1910s. The photographer’s whereabouts after that is unknown.

Vigen Galstyan, 2016