Shirvanshah Palace the landmark of Baku...

Going back to my previous post on landmark of Baku, Maiden Tower (Qız Qalası) I need to mention another important historical landmark of our capital...Shirvanshah Palace that dates back to XV century....

Shirvanshah Palace was built during the rule of Shirvanshahs in Azerbaijan (861-1538) when capital of Shirvanshah was moved from Shemakha to Baku.

Palace of course shared hard times of Azerbaijan...museums and art struggle and thrive together with countries you see...Nonetheless broad walls of Shirvanshah Palace stood proudly to all mischief of history and reached XXI century to witness Azerbaijan of today that is able to protect its heritage and pass it with care to future generations...

Recently pieces that were kept in fund of the Palace were put on display and walking through the rooms of the Palace is even more interesting and educational now...For some reason I also have a feeling that exhibits "live" if they are displayed and viewed...in return they breathed new life into the Palace and take the visitors to more ancient times of Baku and Azerbaijan in general...

Enjoy the tour...

Maiden Tower (Qız Qalası) the landmark of Baku...

Has it ever happened to you that anywhere you travel you make sure to see all or most of the landmarks of the place, take photos and listen to historic facts...and realize at some point that you have spent much less time looking analyzing learning enjoying historic places of your own home city and country.

When we say Paris - Eiffel Tower comes in front of our eyes, we remember New York and recall Statue of Liberty, we talk about London and imagine Big Ben...most probably every city has the place, the landmark, the symbol that associates with it mostly...more people talk about it, more they mention it, more that symbol stays in the memories...becomes the city’s landmark...associates with it.

In Soviet times it used to be popular to spend vacations outside of Azerbaijan thus many Azeris knew much more about resorts of other Republics or Europe (for those who could travel) etc than Azerbaijan. Last ten years or so many Azeris started to kind of rediscover their country, its regions, history, geography, «treasures» that are here to explore, cherish and enjoy (this is my personal opinion:).

Baku's landmark is Qız Qalası - Maiden Tower. Hereby I want to start, continue, join, enforce the process of associating Qız Qalası (Maiden Tower) with Baku - Baku with Maiden Tower (Qız Qalası)...

Maiden Tower of XII century or possibly earlier is one of UNESCO's World Heritage places. It continues to be a theme for many scientific works and thoughts and is a distinct tower to enjoy beautiful views of old and modern Baku and Caspian. For those interested to know more about the tower here is the article on Maiden Tower.

I am posting a photo that I borrowed from above mentioned article with of view of Maiden Tower in 1860 but I also want to share with you the video devoted to International Art Festival “Qız Qalası” that took place in May this year and hosted artists from different countries who worked in the Old City inspired by views and architecture of Maiden Tower. Enjoy and remember to visit Maiden Tower next time you are in Baku :)

Baku is the capital of Azerbaijan

Every English school book in Azerbaijan has the sentence that is the title of this post: Baku is the capital of Azerbaijan :)

Below painting is exhibited in history museum in Baku and pictures medieval Baku...Unfortunately I do not know the author of the painting. You can see Caspian Sea, Maiden Tower and Old City in the background.

Below is how many parts of Baku look nowadays. Newly built buildings and construction everywhere. The whole city is being renovated and almost rebuilt, facades of early XX century buildings are cleaned, roads are widened and parks renovated. This is time consuming, dusty, noisy and hectic process and at times very irritating for Bakuvians...but this needs to be done at some point and earlier it starts earlier it would finish, hopefully :) Hopefully our descendants will love what we will leave behind as Baku just as we are impressed and fascinated with Old City and gorgeous landmarks of XIX, XX century. All we do with them is admire, clean and try to preserve knowing that new constructions won't be able to compete albeit new technologies and enormous opportunities...modern architecture is not worse it is just different...As I hear from all over the world many people are unhappy to see that cities are "invaded" with new buildings...I guess this is something that happens to every big and active city...Baku is no exception...it is living through its stage of modern times, new wealth, technologies, experiments and experiences. So...Let's check this out in 10 years...:)

Modern symphony of Baku...

Sheki doesn't have traffic jams yet thank God. But Baku, the capital, does.

I am posting today an extract from the article that my colleague Axel Reiserer wrote in our corporate newspaper about traffic jams in Baku. As you know there are different ways of looking at everything in life...:) Wishing you a cheerful start for the business week!

"The most important part of a car, you learn in Baku, is the horn. There are more ways of honking than there are ways of saying “I profusely and unreservedly apologise” in Japanese. There is a kind of honking to warn someone. There is honking to greet a friend. There is honking to yell at somebody. There is honking to threaten a hostile moving object. There is honking to scare away pedestrians (a certain class of imbeciles who, luckily, are becoming less and less frequent in Baku and whose extermination thanks to traffic accidents scientists predict by 2025.) There is honking to express joy because the road is free (rare during daytime, but very popular between 2am and 5am). There is honking to express frustration because the road is jammed (all other times). There is honking because someone is honking at you. And there is honking because someone has not honked at the right time, in the right place or in the right style. The latter is also important, because there are various techniques of honking: loudly, aggressively, tenderly, amicably, shyly, with hostility, relentlessly.
Honking is the symphony Bakintsy compose to celebrate their city every day. It all becomes a carpet of sound which has no ending and no beginning and encloses the whole city like the magic carpets in oriental fairy-tales. And surely magic is the only plausible explanation of how Baku residents manage to move their cars while being preoccupied using the horns.
But then this is the Orient after all."