About Baku

Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, is situated on the West Coast of Caspian Sea. It slopes like an amphitheatre down the southern Apsheron Peninsula into a bay. Baku's history goes back many centuries. The first evidence of settlement there comes from the fifth century A.D. During its long history ancient Baku has seen both prosperity and decline. In the fifteenth centuries it was the capital of the Shirvan state. Maritime trade across the Caspian passed through the port of Baku.

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the Baku fortress was regarded as one of the strongest in the Transcaucasus and many a bloody battle took place around its walls. As a result of the numerous wars and internecine feudal strife in the eighteenth century Baku lost its status as an administrative centre. By the beginning of the nineteenth century Baku was a typical medieval town enclosed within the fortress with population of around 5,000.The town began to grow rapidly as navigation and trade developed and as the mineral wealth of Absheron was tapped. Baku has become the largest industrial, scientific and cultural center.

The latter part of the 19th century saw a rapid increase in the demand for oil to fuel the accelerating Industrial Revolution in Europe and North America. In 1823 the first paraffin plant in the world was built to process oil extracted in Baku. In 1879 there were nine oil wells in the city, but by 1900 it had grown to 1,710.

The first oil refinery had been established in 1859 at Surakhany, in the suburbs of Baku. By 1910, Baku was responsible for more than half of the total output of the global oil industry.

Baku has changed a lot since the first oil boom started. The fortress is no more than a small island in the vast modern Baku. Take just a few paces and you cross the ages of time.

The former dusty, smoky Baku has become a town of gardens and parks. Tree-lined boulevards, memorial sculptures and fountains have been built to improve the city.

Among the many monuments of Baku that have survived until now, the most interesting is Ichari Shahar (the Inner City) complex, especially the Palace of the Shirvan-Shahs and Maiden's Tower, and the Atashgyakh Temple.

"Ichari Shahar" is the old quarter of Baku. At the time, it extended to the shore of the Caspian Sea, but in more recent years, a boulevards and an avenue have been built along the shore, reducing the extent of the Inner City. Nevertheless. the winding alleys, back streets, hidden passages, and cul-desacs have largely retained their original character. Having taken its shape over many centuries this quarter includes now a number of unique historical monuments and deservedly called "the Acropolis of Baku". Here you can see the slender minarets of mosques, caravanseriais, turkish baths, vast underground reservoirs, and the legendary and romantic Maiden's Tower.

The real jewel of Ichari Shahar is the Palace of the Shirvan-Shahs, built during the 15th and 16th centuries. The palace complex includes: the palace itself; the Divan Khana, where ceremonial receptions and state assemblies were held; the mosque of the Shah; the turbe -family tomb of the Shirvan-Shah dynasty; the mausoleum of the astronomer Seyid Yakhya Bakuvi; the ruins of the old Keygubad mosque; a hamam - Turkish bath house; and underground water reservoir.

Maiden's Tower is a symbol of Baku and its origin goes back to the depth of centuries, to the epoch of Zoroastrizm. There are different versions of when and how Maiden's Tower was built. There is also a romantic legend about girl, who threw herself from this tower because of the unfortunate love. And it gave to the tower its name - Maiden's Tower.

The Atesgyakh Temple is located 30 km from Baku, in the village of Surakhany. In fact, it is an entire religious complex, and not simply a temple, and in its present form it was constructed not earlier than in 17th century. In ancient times the followers of the prophet Zoroaster regarded the site as sacred, and venerated the "eternal fires" ignited from its deposits of oil and natural gas. After Azerbaijan had become Muslim, it was destroyed, but renewed later by architects and masons from India, who were members of a community that lived in Baku at the time.

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