Welcome to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan and the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus. It lies on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, along the Bay of Baku. Here is a remarkable fact: Baku sits 28 metres below sea level, making it the lowest lying national capital in the world. It is known as the City of Winds for its harsh winds. In the 2010s it hosted major events, from the Eurovision Song Contest to Formula One. Its walled Old City is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and that is where our tour begins.
Old City
Photo: Sefer azeri · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsStep through the walls into the Old City, or Icherisheher, the most ancient part of Baku. In 2000 it became the first place in Azerbaijan to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Wander its lanes and you will pass medieval treasures: the 11th century Synyg Gala Minaret, fortress walls and towers, and old caravanserais and bathhouses. When the Russian Empire occupied Baku in 1806, the walled city held 500 households and 707 shops.
Maiden Tower
Photo: AlixSaz · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsBefore you rises the Maiden Tower, one of Azerbaijan's most distinctive national emblems, so famous that it appears on the country's banknotes. It was built, like most of the Old City, by the Shirvanshahs. Its origins have long inspired speculation and legends, and one even became a ballet, Maiden Tower, composed by Afrasiyab Badalbeyli in 1940. Inside, a museum tells the story of how Baku evolved. Climb to the roof for a view over the alleys and minarets of the Old City and a wide sweep of the Bay of Baku.
Flame Towers
Look up at the skyline and you will see three towers shaped like flames: the Flame Towers, the tallest rising 182 metres. They refer to Azerbaijan's nickname, the Land of Fire, rooted in a region where natural gas flares from the ground and where Zoroastrian worshippers saw flames as a symbol of the divine. The three buildings hold apartments, a hotel and offices.
Heydar Aliyev Center
Now to the Heydar Aliyev Center, designed by Zaha Hadid and famous for its flowing, curved form that avoids sharp angles. The building seems to rise out of the landscape itself, as if the ground had been folded up to wrap around its functions. Inside are a conference hall, a gallery hall and a museum. The centre is named after Heydar Aliyev, who led Soviet Azerbaijan from 1969 to 1982 and was president of Azerbaijan from 1993 to 2003.
Palace of the Shirvanshahs
Photo: Urek Meniashvili · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsEnter the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, a 15th century palace that UNESCO calls one of the pearls of Azerbaijan's architecture. The complex holds the main palace, the Divanhane, burial vaults, the shah's mosque with its minaret, the mausoleum of the dervish Seyid Yahya Bakuvi, Murad's gate and the remains of a bathhouse. It was once ringed by a wall with towers, the inner stronghold of the Baku fortress. Curiously, no inscriptions survive on the palace itself, so it is dated by inscriptions on the tomb and the minaret, naming the ruler Khalil.
Baku Boulevard
Photo: Khortan · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsTake a breath of sea air on Baku Boulevard, a promenade established in 1909 that runs along the Caspian seafront. Its story began when Baku's oil barons were building their mansions along the shore, and the seafront was built up artificially, inch by inch. In 1900 the city decided to plant trees and shrubs along the water. The boulevard traditionally starts at Freedom Square and runs west past the Old City, and over the years new sections have greatly extended it.
Gobustan National Park
Photo: Rəcəb Yaxşı · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsOur final stop lies about 70 kilometres southwest of Baku at Gobustan, a reserve created to protect prehistoric rock carvings, mud volcanoes and natural musical stones. Here more than 6,000 carvings, made between 5,000 and 20,000 years ago, show people, animals, battles, ritual dances, boats with armed oarsmen, camel caravans and the sun and stars. Imagine the hands that cut these images into stone so long ago. The Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2007.
Lomakuume
