The City of Winds

Travel by Nivine Maktabi Baku the City of Winds Heyder Aliyev Center designed by Zaha Hadid. Should I call it the City of Caviar, Oil and Gaz or the land of Caucasian Carpets? It was in May, right after Beirut Designers’ Week, when I packed a small suitcase and I am specifying small as I admit it was a big mistake to try and travel light for a change. I was flying to Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, a city which name’s always fascinated me. In fact, for me, Azerbaijan, the home of the Caucasus, is a name I only crossed in my readings Oil tanks in the middle of the sea. and specially when researching on Caucasian carpets. I headed to Fairmont Hotel, known as the Flame towers, the tallest and biggest three skyscrapers in the city. An impressive archi- 4 am was the take off; of course I was sleepy and slept on both tecture overlooking the city and the Caspian Sea was awaiting me. connecting flights, from Beirut to Istanbul and Istanbul to Baku. As it is not yet a popular touristic destination, most passengers Due to my several travels to carpet manufacturing countries, were either locals or Turkish and around one or two foreigners Azerbaijan was actually a big surprise, very different from what I I would assume working for a petroleum company, BT or alike. imagined it. While still in the taxi, at some point I thought I was in Dubai, then some of the buildings and highways reminded me of Upon arrival, the sun was blinding and a line of black cabs were filling St Petersburg and then again the boulevards resembled Paris. So in the pavement outside the airport. Seeing a London cab automatical- a way, the city didn’t have an identity yet again it was impressive ly put a smile on my face. However the color of the cab was purple with all the nicely new mansions, cleanliness, greenery and seaside. and the steering wheel on the left, contrary to the English black cab. In short, it is a very modern city with a lot of glamour and grandiose. © Nivine Archives Maktabi Prestige Novembre 2014♦ 132 Travel Shahid Square next to Parliament in Baku. Here I am at Fairmont, a very contemporary hotel with a re- markable chandelier in the center of the lobby’s high ceiling and a state of the art, ESPA-Spa spreading over 3 floors. As for my room, it was just amazing on the 13th floor overlooking the Caspian Sea and was so thrilled when I saw the Rolled Carpet Museum by the glass window panel. I couldn’t get enough of the spectacular views of the Caspian Sea and Baku’s skyline. Like with every new country I visit, a bit of history is always good. I was touring the capital with Chirine, my childhood friend and learnt some facts from Subhan, our guide. In brief, located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, Baku is the capital and the largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on Inside the incredible Heydar Aliyev Center designed by Zaha Hadid. the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is bordered by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Turkey and Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west and Iran to the south. According to Subhan, most tourists come mainly from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Japan, Turkey, Spain and Iran. As for visa regu- lations, most CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries can enter with no visas including Israel and Turkey, they have the opportunity to obtain visas in Azerbaijan international air- ports (Baku, Ganja, Nakhichevan) upon arrival. The official lan- guages used in the country are Azeri and Turkish and not Russian. The Independence Baku is one of the largest industrial and cultural centers in the East, but it is also the first Muslim-majority country (95% are Shiia-Muslim and the rest are Christians and Jews) to have operas, theaters and plays, i.e.: Puppet Theater and the Philharmonic Hall that was constructed throughout 1910-1912 at the request of the city elite. In fact, it is incredible to learn that the literacy rate is 99% in the country. In 1918, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was established, the date of Azer- baijan first independence from Royal Russia but was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920 as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Re- public. Azerbaijan regained independence in 1991 and returned their flag and hence it was the year of their 2nd independence. The Flag is in equal stripes of blue, red and green, as picture: blue meaning the influence of the Turkish culture, red as the European democracy © Archives © Nivine Archives Maktabi and modernity and green representing the Islamic civilization. Outside Zaha Hadid project in Baku. Prestige Novembre 2014♦ 133 Travel by Nivine Maktabi Museum of Modern Art Moma in Baku, painted My room came with this spectacular view on the Caspian Sea and by wife of President, Mehriban Aliyev. the Rolled Carpet Museum. Discovering history and culture with a modern twist. Places to visit The first attraction we visited was the Heydar Aliyev Center developed and designed by renowned architect Zaha Hadid. The construction of the Center’s facility was launched in 2007 and com- pleted in 2012 to celebrate the National Leader’s 89th anniversary. Recognized as one of the world’s masterpieces in architecture, the Heydar Aliyev Center has immediately grown into a signature ar- chitectural landmark of modern Baku. From the outside, the Rolling chair carpet design. construction looks like waves, some say the signature of the president but in fact it is just a unique superb architecture. The Curved I was surprised to learn about the Black January, a massacre in architecture includes Conference center, museum, park and a library. the end of the 20th century where one million people gathered in It is quite impressive and very futuristic. I really loved it and loved Independence Square to get their autonomy from USSR. However, the different exhibitions on display. It encompasses 3 sections: they were killed by Gorbatchev tanks of Red Army. Hence the name the Black 20 January when 169 people sacrificed their lives •The Heydar Aliyev Museum and were later buried in the military cemetery. Black January •The Exhibition Halls. This section occupies 9 floors with also known as Black Saturday or the January Massacre was a vio- exhibition halls, administrative office and a spacious white lent crackdown in Baku on January 19-20, 1990, pursuant to a super modern cafeteria. state of emergency during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. •The Auditorium. This section of 4 levels embraces 2 multi- functional conference halls, meeting rooms and the media center. According to the decree of the president of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev from December 16, 1999, all victims of the crackdown were awar- The modern Azerbaijan is recognized in the world through its ded an honorary title of the «Martyr of January 20». Heydar Aliyev nationwide leader Heydar Aliyev. And the Center bearing the na- was the president of the country till his death in 2003. His son me of Heydar Aliyev has become a symbol of modern Azerbaijan Elham Aliyev succeeded him. (His wife Mehriban and daughter and modern Baku. In addition, apparently both the beautiful first Layla are very active and big entrepreneurs). The Shahid Square is lady Mehriban (www.mehriban-aliyeva.org) and her attractive a must see as you will visit Black January martyrs eternal flame me- daughter Layla are talented painters and exhibit their art works in morial. It is located right across the Fairmont Hotel, walking distan- both Heydar Aliyev Center and the Moma, museum of modern art. ce from the Parliament and opposite the Funicular (similar to the ones in Swiss mountains) taking you right across the new Carpet museum. Moma is the modern art museum. In March 2009 by the ini- tiative of first lady Mehriban Aliyeva and with the support of Azerbaijan history can be divided between the medieval era and the the Heydar Aliyev Fund, the Museum of Modern Art has been modern and oil era. For those interested to learn more about Baku oil opened in Baku, by Port Baku. The museum basis is the col- boom and history (Jewish, Persian and Russian influence), I recom- lection of the best works of painting and sculpture of Azerbaijan nd th mend to read «the Orientalist» by Tom Reiss, a fascinating novel. avant-guardists from 2 half of the 20 century up to now. © Nivine Archives Maktabi Prestige Novembre 2014♦ 134 Travel Palace» and many typical restaurants such as Karavan Sarai, Art Garden, however we ended up in «Mankal». We placed our order with practically signing and drawing because no waiter knew a word of English, I even tried to speak Farsi hoping it may mean some- thing to them. My favorite dish was their traditional Lahem bi Ajin called «Kutab» that comes with ingredients, meat, spinach or cheese. Port Baku the new downtown of Baku on the Harbour. Like in every country, one always makes time for the «ritual»: shopping and that was fun as again I had to sign language for the right size and colour in «Fountain Square», the vibrant Port Baku is where you will find the new high-rise, i.e.: Trump To- and colorful shopping area. wers, new hotels, new shops, new restaurants by the harbor. It is their «Zaytounay bay» on a larger scale or maybe «Chelsea Harbour» in Later that night, we wanted to pamper ourselves and go for a London.

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