Focusing on Azerbaijan

Faig GURBATOV National Coordinator of the “Project for the Development of Tourism in Azerbaijan”, UNDP

Azerbaijan at a closer look

IF YOU HAVE VISITED BAKU AND EVEN LIVED IN THIS GREAT CITY FOR A FEW WEEKS, IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT AZERBAIJAN IS ALREADY A READ BOOK FOR YOU. CONSIDER THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW THIS COUNTRY PROPERLY YET. YOU CAN COME HERE YEAR AFTER YEAR BUT STILL, IT WILL PREPARE SOME PLEASANT SURPRISE FOR YOU EVERY TIME.

Start with the province jan. Your journey will beg in in the Upon arrival at Bak u airport, try desert plains of the Absheron Penin- to avoid the temptation to drop into sula and end in the mountain forests the city, because otherwise, you will teeming with chestnuts , hazelnuts not escape from the welcoming em- and branchy oaks. brace of the A zerbaijani capital. It is The ancient cit y of Shek i is the better to go straight int o the hear t center of the Shek i-Zagatala re- of the countr y, the ancient cit y of gion. It is locat ed 300 k ilometers Sheki, which was once the center of northwest of Baku on the souther n a powerful khanate. On the way, you slopes of the Great Caucasus Range. will have a chance to get acquainted Sheki was in the rapids of the Silk with some natural ar eas of Azerbai- Road, through which many caravans

56 www.irs-az.com traveled for centuries. From here, comes in thr ough the mag nificent off a large knife blade. If they ask you merchants and tra velers brought stained glass windows that decorate to taste a juic y piece of bak lava or stunningly beautiful silk fabr ics and the facade of the building . The art halva, you cannot refuse – you will scarves embroidered with gold. She- of creating these stained glass win- have to eat everything, or else y ou ki silk is light, durable and transpar - dows was not lost - local craf tsmen will strongly offend the host. ent as a veil and was valued no less are still ready to fulfil any order. than Chinese silk. In the Sheki restaurant styled like Wine tour In the city and its environs, there a medieval caravanserai, you will be The Shirvan region has always at- are numerous unique ar chitectural offered an ex cellent meal. Be sur e tracted tourists with its pic turesque monuments, including one of the to try the local cr own dish – piti, a mountains, green valleys and nu- oldest Albanian chur ches in the soup of lamb stewed with herbs and merous monuments of A zerbaijani world, which was f ounded in the spices on low heat. architecture. Shamakhi was visit ed first century A.D. But the main w on- Be sure to visit the confectioners’ by Alexandre Dumas during his jour- der is the 18th century Palace of She- quarter. Only here, can you taste and ney to the South Caucasus . From ki Khans. buy famous Shek i sweets - honey here, he brought many Eastern reci- Winding streets covered with baklava, gentle halva and flour sticks pes for his famous “Cookbook” he cobblestones lead to the walls of the that melt in y our mouth. They are was proud of no less than the nov el fortress and the palace itself . It was baked according to traditional reci- “The Three Musketeers”. built more than t wo centuries ago pes handed down fr om generation The great French novelist was for Huseyn Khan - a poet and patron to generation. They get their unique right: Shamakhi cuisine was, indeed, of arts and crafts. Through the efforts taste from walnuts, hazelnuts, al- unusually rich: 46 k inds of pilaf, 14 of architects and builders, a big pre- monds and honey made fr om types of dolma, 16 t ypes of k ebab cious carved fine cask et emerged. mountain herbs. Strict confectioners and lots of other delicacies . All this All the walls are covered with exqui- (here it is an exclusively male profes- should be washed down with red or site paintings, while marvelous light sion) allow you to taste fresh sweets white wine made in the neighbor - www.irs-az.com 57 Focusing on Azerbaijan

Each year, the fac tory produces hundreds of thousands of bottles of wine sold in almost ev ery shop in Azerbaijan. At the same time , the winery itself recently acquired clear features of a r esort. Near the wine bottling workshop, there are white two-storied cottages, and a swim- ming pool, tennis courts, a r estau- rant and a large tasting room are be- ing completed. Drinking wine wher e it is pr o- duced is the main principle of “wine” tourism. In Azerbaijan, pure moun- tain air and mag nificent scenery have been added to it. Here, high in the mountains , ing region of Ismayilli. Sauvignon vines fr om Georgia and there is the village of I vanovka, Ismayilli is a lar ge wine-making revive the ancient A zerbaijani sort which is home t o descendants of region situated at an altitude of of Matrasa. Today Ismayilli runs the Russian Molokan immigrants, and 1,400 meters above sea lev el. The most modern wine-making com- the village-reserve of Lahij , which mild local climate makes it possible plex in the CIS. Production has been is famed f or its sk ilful craftsmen. to make sorts which produce won- fully modernized and stat e-of-the- Celebrations and f estivals of craf ts derful dry and sweet wines. art French and I talian equipment here are visited by hundreds of tour- In the ear ly 2000s, the Isma yilli has been installed her e. The grapes ists to buy unique pr oducts valued winery lay in ruins. Its new owner - are grown without chemical f ertil- by Great Silk Road mer chants and the Ismayilli Sharab Company - had izers, while the cr ops are harvested known far beyond the Caucasus. to bring Saperavi and Caber net manually. The main shopping str eet of La-

58 www.irs-az.com hij is densely lined with shops and workshops of coppersmiths, tanners, chasers, potters, workers of the gar - ments industry, incrustation w ork- ers, wood and st one carvers and gunsmiths. In this remote area, you can obtain a nice souvenir and a real work of art at an affordable price.

Medical oil treatment About a hundr ed kilometers south of Sheki, in the hear t of Azer- baijan, there is a small t own called Naftalan, which must definit ely be visited. This is the only place on Earth where sources of medicinal naftalan oil have been found. It does not burn and cannot be used as fuel , but it cures dozens of diseases. and solutions based on naf talan oil, uniqueness and special eff ective- The story of its discov ery is as which will cer tainly help y ou out if ness of its oil. Six of Naftalan’s old re- follows. In 1890, the Ger man engi- you have a health problem. sorts cannot cope with the load - the neer Jaeger was pr ospecting for oil Today, oil pr ocedures are used town already has four private medi- near the pr esent-day town of Naf- in the health cent ers of Naftalan to cal institutions while three others are talan. He rented a large plot of land, successfully treat skin diseases, mus- being completed. hired workers and dr illed the first culoskeletal dysfunctions and a host wells in anticipation of a quick profit. of other ailments , the list of which Bringing the West and the East However, the samples he obtained takes more than just one pr inted together nearly brought the entrepreneur to sheet. In one of the local sanat oria, Arriving in Bak u in the ev ening, his grave - the oil did not contain there is even a museum of crutches. you will see the cit y in the war m gasoline fractions and ther efore, it They were left by t erminally ill and light of innumerable lamps and in did not burn. Being on the v erge of almost disabled patients who began the shining luxury of storefronts. The bankruptcy, Jaeger noticed that on to walk after naftalan baths. city is lit up so br ightly and cleverly hot days, the locals submerged into Studying the composition of that the capital of A zerbaijan shines oil-filled pits, finding this pr ocedure naftalan, which looked like ordinary like a huge jewel today. very useful. oil, chemists came t o the conclu- The palaces, which dic tate the Reassured, the German opened a sion that the curativ e properties of image of the cit y, go well with the th factory to produce the naftalan oint- the liquid were primarily due to the lighting. At the beginning of the 20 ment. It perfectly healed w ounds, naphthenic hydrocarbons it con- century when Baku was rapidly get- burns and frostbite. The new medi- tained. Forming the basis of man y ting rich from oil trade, Azerbaijan re- cine from Azerbaijan created a fu- biologically active substances - vi- ceived the best architects of Europe, ror in Eur ope. Jaeger’s ointments, tamin D, sterols and bile acids , they who built houses on the model of provided with the eng ineer’s article contribute to the stimulation of European capitals. And only the light and doctors’ reviews, were sold as a adaptive functions in the body. Eastern veil lying on these buildings remedy for almost all diseases, while During the “dead” period of the will remind you that you are on the their recipe was k ept as a closely 1990s, Europe unexpectedly took shore of the Caspian Sea. guarded secret. the palm of naf talan treatment The city is best view ed from Of course, you cannot get rid of all from Azerbaijan. However, Azerbai- above, for example, from the view- diseases by visiting Naftalan for only jan, which has prac ticed naftalan ing tower of the Hot el Radisson, a couple of hours . But this is wher e treatment for more than one hun- which is located in the hear t of the you can buy ointments , creams dred years, has no doubt about the city. Here, you can have a dinner in www.irs-az.com 59 Focusing on Azerbaijan

a restaurant with panoramic views . Start with gutabs and tr y the balig- bozbash (trout soup), and alwa ys leave some room for pilaf - the main dish of Azerbaijani cuisine. The country’s capital – Bak u - is home to representatives of man y nationalities, religions and cultur es. It is home to Kurds, Russians, Ukraini- ans, Lezgins, Hindus, Jews, Georgians and Turks. They have all managed to maintain the traditions and customs of their people , which mak es the capital of Azerbaijan a very interest- ing city from an ethnographic point of view. The center of Baku is Ichari Sha- th har - “The Inner City”. In the 12 cen- Atashgah fi re-worshippers’ temple in Surakhani tury, it was surrounded by a double row of rampar ts and a moat. The This layout was fully justified: out into the Caspian Sea. construction of defensive structures aliens could easily get lost in the Scientists are still continuing t o began during the r eign of Shah web of str eets, while their nar row- argue about the age of the t ower. Manuchehr II fr om the Yazidid dy- ness saved residents from the sum- There is a theory that it was built no nasty. mer heat and cold winter winds. later than the 10th century, but most The city could be ent ered One of the most famous and in likely, it was built in sev eral stages, through several gates, and the main the same wa y, mysterious monu- and the construc tion of the t ower Shamakhi gate still str ikes with its ments of Bak u is Giz G alasi – the lasted several centuries. grandeur. Homes tightly pr essed to Maiden’s Tower. As a symbol of the The base of the t ower dates each other formed a maze of many city, the t ower is per haps unparal- back to the 5 th-6th centuries, while narrow alleys and dead ends , while leled in the entir e Middle and Near the upper par t – to the 12 th centu- citizens’ homes r epresented closed East. It offers a beautiful view of the ry. The purpose of Giz G alasi is also courtyards with low houses and Baku Bay, and the t ower itself was the subject of heat ed discussions. deep porches. built on a ledge of a rock that jutted Some researchers believe that it was originally built as a fir e temple, and its height is due t o the fact that the Zoroastrians practiced very exotic funerals - the body was not bur ied, but was exposed to be devoured by birds of prey. In the 12 th century, the Maiden’s Tower was one of the most pow er- ful fortresses of Shir van Shahs, and later in the 18th-19th centuries, it was used as a lighthouse . Excavations carried out near the t ower revealed the ruins of an ancient Chr istian basilica, whose age is estimat ed at 1,700-1,800 years. It is believed that it was erected at the site of the exe- cution of Saint Bartholomew, one of

Gala outdoor reserve 60 www.irs-az.com the 12 apostles of Jesus Chr ist, who preached Christianity among local pagan tribes in the first century A.D.

The heart of the Old Town Most of the f ortress is occupied by the palace of the Shir van Shahs - the rulers of Shirvan, built in the 15th century. The architectural complex that includes a Divan-K hana, the Shirvan Shahs’ tomb, a mosque with a minaret and a palace bath, stands on three levels and is visible fr om the sea for many kilometers. Its construction began af ter the capital of the Shir van state was moved from Shamakhi to Baku. Leg- end has it that the sit e for its con- Rock engravings in Gobustan struction was chosen v ery carefully: pieces of meat w ere hung in diff er- ter minaret topped with an or iginal Vatican, Tehran, Moscow and St. Pe- ent parts of the cit y, and the palace cornice. tersburg. was founded where it got spoilt later And, of course, it is impossible to Outside the 12 th century walls, than all. imagine the East without traditional there is the “boom town”, which The oldest building in the en- bathhouses. The palace complex in- emerged in the per iod of the rapid semble is the palace itself , which cludes a modest -looking bath, but development of the oil industr y in occupies the t op of the hill . It has as they say, do not judge a book by the late 19th century. Then, Azerbai- two floors. On each floor , there are its cover. In Baku, the correct propor- jan provided half of global oil , and 25 rooms. The ground floor was oc- tions of the int erior and a t echnical rich oil mag nates invited the best cupied by servants and was used for solution to a complex set of eng i- architects of Europe. storing food reserves, while the t op neering structures have been pr e- With the oil boom, cultural lif e floor was occupied by the sheik h ferred over the ex ternal decoration flourished as w ell – theatr es were and his entourage. since ancient times. opened and singers and musicians Next to the Divan-K hana, which The bath contained a great soap were invited from Europe. They say housed the then government, there room with a pool and rooms for vari- that an opera theat er was built by is a tomb. Its interior, decorated with ous procedures, and pure water was a wealthy man on a dar e. Baku was magnificent finest ornaments, is one supplied from a nearby artesian well. visited by a pr ima donna from Italy, of the finest examples of the ar chi- A large ventilation shaft was con- who was v ery surprised that ther e tecture of medieval Azerbaijan. nected to the deep under ground was no theat er in the cit y. She did Under the floor of the funeral reservoir. With the help of an ex - give a concert, but said that she was hall, archaeologists discovered a tensive system of heat -conducting unlikely to come here again - ther e burial crypt - 14 graves of members channels, couches and walls w ere is no theatre and no place to sing. In of the Shirvan Shah dynasty. heated in a natural way. response, a worthy man said that a No less interesting from an archi- As Baku was seiz ed by Safa vid year later, Baku will have its own op- tectural and historical point of view troops in 1500, the palace was loot - era theater. He kept his word and the is the shah ’s mosque, which was ed. Many of its treasures were taken theater was built... built in the early 15th century and dif- to Tabriz as boot y, and nowada ys For true connoisseurs of hist ory fers with its sev erity of architectural they are kept in museums in Russia, and identity of the A zerbaijani peo- expression and car efully designed France, Turkey, Iran, UK and USA. An- ple, Baku offers a variety of museum proportions made without any artis- cient tomes from the palace librar y complexes, in which y ou totally im- tic frills, except for a striking 22-me- are kept in book depositories in the merse yourself in ancient hist ory. www.irs-az.com 61 Focusing on Azerbaijan

served people as a bed , desk and workplace. Such an unpretentious situation is an echo of the da ys when the ancient nomadic Turks, ancestors of Azerbaijanis, regarded only the endless steppes as their home and did not confine themselves to walls and roofs. Later, settling bet ween the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea, they retained their lov e for cattle breeding, discovering in parallel extraordinary abilities for fine crafts and trade - A zerbaijani khanates settled just at the crossroads of ma- jor caravan routes. From the window of the muse - Khan’s Palace, Sheki um semi-dugout, you can see strong two-storied houses of the cur rent In Baku, you can find museums of in London and the Textile Museum residents of the village of G ala. Half history, literature, music culture, the in Washington. of the buildings seem t o have been carpet, Azerbaijani theater and a Why do the A zerbaijanis have built from the same hewn st ones unique museum of miniature books. such a tender attitude to carpets? To that serve as exhibits in the mu- Since ancient times , the main understand this, one must go to an seum. Shaggy sheep ar e running feature in the traditions of the A zer- open-air museum on the outsk irts through the nar row streets, cows baijani people has been hospitalit y, of Baku - the village of G ala. Here, are mooing and dogs ar e barking respect for elders, help to the weak, archaeologists found the r emains in the yards. It may seem that time peacefulness and tolerance. You can of an ancient f ortress and settle - froze here 200 years ago. But the for- experience all this by visiting Bak u, ment at the sit e of which they laid est of oil der ricks, which begins im- walking along its beautiful str eets out a hist orical and ethnog raphic mediately behind the houses and and just chatting with passers-by . It park with hundreds of exhibits from stretches on the surrounding hills to is believed that an yone who visits different eras - fr om rough Stone the horizon, quickly returns visitors Baku once is sur e to return there. Age tools and plates covered with to the 21st century. Therefore, the answ er to the ques- petroglyphs to fine 19 th century tion of whether t o visit Baku or not phaetons. Bow to the fire should only be positive, with an eye In this museum, y ou can literally In the vicinity of Baku, in the vil- for vivid impressions, with which you touch history: guests can tr y their lage of Surakhani, there is one of the will return from there. hand in traditional craf ts or par tici- most famous sights of A zerbaijan - pate in ancient festivals and rites. For the Atashgah temple of fire worship- To touch history Bakuvians, Gala is a kind of entertain- pers. In former times, there existed Connoisseurs of traditional A zer- ment center that whole families love burning natural gas sources here. baijani carpets can enjoy plent y of to visit. The “Land of Fire” became a place trips to carpet factories and plunge In a craf tsman’s restored home, of worship for pilgrims – Zoroastrian into the range of qualit y products a couple of old car pets lie on the Hindus. They built a t emple altar, woven by hand that ha ve no ana- floor, a couple of others ar e on the prayer houses and cells her e. The logues in the world. Beautiful carpets dastarkhan – a dais in fr ont of the whole complex r emains intact to made by A zerbaijan craftswomen fireplace. There is also a w ooden this day, and the aust ere conditions decorate the Hermitage, the Louvre, loom here – similar units ar e still have been r estored in man y cells, the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istan- used by weavers at Azer-Ilma. There while fire is sometimes lit on the tow- bul, the Victoria and Albert Museum is no fur niture inside since car pets ers of the t emple and on the altars .

62 www.irs-az.com A tip for gourmets its charm and spices , local cuisine (86,600 sq. km), more than half – Azerbaijan is a paradise for gour- is heavy enough for people whose 47,000 sq. km are oil and gas depos- mets and all lovers of Caucasian and stomach is not used to such a huge its. Experts claim that under ground Oriental cuisine. Kebab, lula k ebab, amount of mutt on. Accepting yet oil deposits in Azerbaijan total nearly gutabs, sweets and pickles – a starv- another invitation to lunch or din- 3 billion tons. ing tourist can try all this in an y res- ner, compare the siz e of the tr eat - The capital of A zerbaijan has taurant or cafe. But in each r egion, and your forces. many unusual, one-of-a-kind muse- you will definitely be offered some- Vegetarians, too, will find some - ums, including: thing very special as well. thing to eat. In the fruit paradise, fruit - The Museum of Car pets and In Sheki, it will be the “dushbara” and berries of the east and south Applied Arts with the world’s largest soup with tiny dumplings and lamb, ripen: red pomegranates, currants, collection of rugs; and scrambled eggs with honey , in amber persimmons, cream cherries, - The State Museum of Musi- Zagatala – pilaf with chick en, and peaches, pearl plums, turquoise fig, cal Culture, which keeps more than in Ganja - sherbet and creamy gay- feijoa, walnuts, olives, honey mel- 35,000 exhibits, including the world’s mag. In Azerbaijan, there are a lot of on, sugar melons , juicy apples and oldest instrument – the “gavaldash” delicious dishes that have yet to be- grapes of all sorts. stone tambourine; come an expor t product, and they can only be tasted at home. Potatoes Facts and Figures - The Museum of Miniature Books and apples stuffed with lamb, stur- - In Azerbaijan, there are 65 - unique in the w orld, which has geon with tomatoes and olives with monuments of global impor tance more than five thousand baby books the Absheron sauce, potato dolma (the Old Town of Baku is on the list in all languages. Some of them can with meat and mutton khash are tra- of UNESCO World Heritage Sites), 15 only be read under a microscope; ditional Azerbaijani dishes that y ou natural and hist orical reserves, 20 - The Museum of Baku Oil, which are unlikely to try anywhere else. game reserves and hunting grounds. is popular among specialists of inter- But keep in mind that, despite all - Of the total area of the country national oil companies. www.irs-az.com 63