Top 10 Cities in the Middle East - 7. Baku

After depicting the architecture of three marvellous cities in the Middle East, I'm sure you won't say no to getting an insight into a fourth one, ranked on the 7th place in our Top 10 Cities in the Middle East, the series which never fails to provide you with up-to-date information and suggestive pictures of the local architectural masterpieces. Considering the development of modern architecture in the capital of Azerbaijan, this splendid town is worth describing as one of the most attractive in the Middle East. Then, let's take a virtual tour among history, culture, as well as the architectural wonders of Baku!

Baku is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. With a population of over two million people, it is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city is the scientific, cultural and industrial center of Azerbaijan. It seems that Baku has been hogging the limelight for the last years, and its modernizing process is on the rise. The city housed the 57th Eurovision Song Contest in 2012 and will host the 2015 European Games.

At first, we should cast an eye over Baku's history. The first written evidence for Baku dates to the 1st century AD. The city became important when it was chosen as the new capital by the ruling Shirvanshah, Akhsitan I, in the 15th century.

Basically,Baku is a city founded upon oil. Baku's largest industry is petroleum, and its petroleum exports make it a large contributor to Azerbaijan's balance of payments. The existence of petroleum has been known since the 8th century. Large-scale oil exploration started in 1872, when Russian imperial authorities auctioned the parcels of oil-rich land around Baku to private investors. Within a short period of time Swiss, British, French, Belgian, German, Swedish and American investors appeared in Baku. Among them were the firms of the Nobel brothers together with the family von Börtzell-Szuch and the Rothschild family. An industrial oil belt, better known as Black City, was established near Baku. By the beginning of the 20th century almost half of world production was being extracted in Baku. 

The domination over the Azerbaijani oil fields was a subject of dispute in the first half on the 20th century. The Bolshevik attempt to take hold of the area generated harsh fights within Azerbaijan. On 28 May 1918, the Azerbaijani faction of the Transcaucasian Sejm proclaimed the independent Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and Baku became the capital. On 28 April 1920, the 11th Red Army invaded Baku and reinstalled the Bolsheviks, making Baku the capital of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. During the continuing Nazi German invasion of the southwestern Soviet Union, capturing the oil fields of Baku would have been one of the ultimate goals of Operation Edelweiss, but the German plans failed.

With the initiatives for saving the city in the 21st century, Baku embarked on a process of restructuring on a scale unseen in its history. Thousands of buildings from Soviet period were demolished to make way for a green belt on its shores; parks and gardens were built on the land reclaimed by filling up the beaches of the Baku Bay. Improvements were made in the general cleaning, maintenance, and garbage collection, and these services are now at Western European standards. The city is growing dynamically and developing at full speed on an east-west axis along the shores of the Caspian Sea.

Baku has a subtropical semi-arid climate, with warm and dry summers, cool and occasionally wet winters, and strong winds all year long.

The great cultural diversity in Baku is due to the very large Russian, Armenian and Jewish population, which have broaden the cultural horizons of Azerbaijan in various ways (music, literature, architecture and progressive outlook). The religion with the largest community of followers is Islam. The urban landscape is shaped by many communities. Religious minorities include Russian Orthodox Christians, Catholic Levantines, Ashkenazi Jews and Sufi Muslims.

Architecture in Baku
Baku has wildly varying architecture, ranging from the Old City's monuments to modern buildings and the spacious layout of the Baku port. Many of the city's most impressive buildings were built during the early 20th Century, when architectural elements of the European styles were combined in eclectic style. Baku thus has an original and unique appearance, earning it a reputation as the 'Paris of the East'.

Late modern and postmodern architecture began to appear in the early-2000s. With the economic development, plenty of old buildings have been razed to make way for new ones. Constructions with all glass shell appear around the city, with the most prominent examples being the SOCAR Tower and Flame Towers.

Let's start with the beginnings of architectural development in this marvellous city!

One of the symbols of the city, the Maiden Tower, also known locally as Giz Galasi, was built in the 12th century, as part of the walled city of Baku. The Maiden Tower, with the Shirvanshahs' Palace dated to the 15th century, are an ensemble of historic monuments which have been inscribed under the UNESCO World Heritage List of Historical Monuments in 2001.The Maiden Tower houses a museum, which presents the story of historic evolution of the Baku city. The view from the roof takes in the alleys and minarets of the Old City, the Baku Boulevard, the De Gaulle house and a wide vista of the Baku Bay. In recent years, the brazier on the top has been lit during the nights of the Novruz festival.

The tower, which is Baku's most distinguished landmark, described as the "most majestic and mysterious monument of Baku, the Gyz Galasy", built on solid rock foundation, demonstrates right on the coast line, a fusion of Arabic, Persian and Ottoman influences.

The Bibi-Heybat Mosque is a historical mosque in Baku, Azerbaijan. The existing structure, built in the 1990s, is a recreation of the mosque with the same name built in the 13th century by Shirvanshah Farrukhzad II Ibn Ahsitan II, which was completely destroyed by the Bolsheviks in 1936.

The Bibi-Heybat Mosque includes the tomb of Ukeyma Khanum (a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad), and today is the spiritual center for the Muslims of the region and one of the major monuments of Islamic architecture in Azerbaijan.

The modern restored mosque is a classic example of the Shirvan architectural school. The mosque has three domes, which have kept the traditional corrugated galvanised iron shape of the old mosque and two minarets. The domes are decorated with the green and turquoise mirrors, which are bordered with gilded inscriptions from Qur'an. The mosque was designed by the famous Azerbaijani architect Sanan Sultanov.

Nizami Street is a large pedestrian and shopping street in downtown Baku, named after famed classical poet Nizami Ganjavi. Nowadays, it is considered one of the most expensive streets in the world.

Architecture of the street reflects a synthesis of various styles and directions, which is because, the intensive construction and building was realized in three main levels: late 19th-early 20th century, 1950s-1970s and a modern period.

Most of the buildings, constructed in the first level, were constructed in neo-renaissance, neo-gothic, baroque and neoclassicism styles as other buildings of the city constructed in that period. Neo-Moorish style also dominates, since architects attempted to use elements of national architecture in its construction.

The second level of the architectural development of the street is connected to intrusion of new buildings in the middle of the 20th century, which were implemented in empire or so called “Stalin’s empire” style. Later, in the end of 1950’s were constructed residential houses, many of which were projected and constructed in a new artistic architectural style which was widely spread in a lot countries of the world and which was known as “constructivism”.

Modern constructions, especially skyscrapers, are constructed in “neo-modern” style, dressed with alucobond, fiber-reinforced concrete, marble and granite.

Further in the article, we shall depict the recently-built Baku, whose buildings are considered top samples of modernism in architecture.
 

The Baku TV Tower, built in 1996, is a free standing concrete telecommunications tower in Baku, Azerbaijan. With a height of 310 metres (1017 ft), it is the tallest structure in Azerbaijan and the tallest reinforced concrete building in Caucasus.

The tower has become one of the most prominent trademarks of Baku, often in the establishing shot of films set in the city.

 
By the time it will be finished, SOCAR Tower will be the tallest building in Baku. It is located on Heydar Aliyev avenue. The building will be the headquarters of the SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic). Construction has started in 2010 and will be completed in 2013. It will also be the tallest building in whole Caucasus.

Designed by Heerim Architects from South Korea, the towers will have 42 floors, at a height of 209 meters. The building design will be based on a composite system of steel construction with reinforced concrete walls.

Flame Towers is a residential complex with a roof height of 190 m (620 ft) in Baku. The structure is one of the tallest buildings in Baku. The facades of the three Flame Towers are turned into gigantic display screens with the use of more than 10,000 high-power LED luminaires.

The towers' shape was inspired by the city's history of Zoroastrian fire worship and its ongoing connection with natural gas. The Illumination of Flame Towers designed by HOK was acknowledged as the best in the world. The Flame Towers are completely covered with the LED screens that display the movement of a fire visible from the farthest points of the city. This illumination creates the effect of giants torches emphasizing the main idea of Flame Towers incorporated in their name.

You will get a better general idea of Baku's appearance and atmosphere watching the video:

As you may know, Baku hosted the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012. On 2 August 2011, Alpine Bau Deutschland AG was awarded the contract to construct the new venue, now known as Baku Crystal Hall. Preparations for construction began in the area shortly after the announcement. As you can see in the photos below, the awe-inspiring design of the stage may have had a vital contribution to the success of the show among the audiences worldwide.

After taking a virtual tour through Baku's top attractions, there's no doubt that, not only is this city worth visiting as a tourist, but it is also an unique cultural centre. Intriguing or not, the way in which modernism combines with traditional architecture is maybe the most striking aspect of the cities in the Middle East, Baku being a very appropriate sample of this exquisite cultural mixture.

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baku
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nizami_street
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibi-Heybat_Mosque
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_in_Baku
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flame_Towers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maiden_Tower_%28Baku%29