(until 1923, the village of Khankendy; renamed in honor of Stepan Shaumian), a city and administrative center of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, Azerbaijan SSR. Located at the foot of the eastern slope of the Karabakh Range, in the Karkarchai River valley. Situated on the Evlakh-Nakhiche-van’ Highway, 26 km south of the Agdam railroad station. Population, 33,000 (1975; 10,000 in 1939; 20,000 in 1959; 30,000 in 1970).

Enterprises in Stepanakert produce more than one-half of all the oblast’s industrial output. Stepanakert is a major center in the Azerbaijan SSR of light and food-processing industries. Light industry is represented by a silk combine and footwear, carpet, and clothing factories. The food-processing industry is represented by a winery and a milk combine. The city also has a building-materials combine and factories for the production of furniture, asphalt concrete, and equipment used in illuminating engineering.

Stepanakert has a pedagogical institute, a sovkhoz-technicum, and medical and music schools. Cultural institutions include a historical museum of local lore and a drama theater. The city’s modern architecture is exemplified by the ensemble built on V. I. Lenin Square, which includes the buildings housing the oblast committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan (1960; architects I. Vartanesov and G. Medzhidov) and the oblast executive committee (1972; architect N. Kengerli), as well as a monument to V. I. Lenin (bronze and granite, 1957; sculptors S. Kuliev and M. Mirkasimov, architects I. Vartanesov and G. Medzhidov).