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Baku (, ; ) is the
capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...
and
largest city The United Nations uses three definitions for what constitutes a city, as not all cities in all jurisdictions are classified using the same criteria. Cities may be defined as the cities proper, the extent of their urban area, or their metrop ...
of
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...
, as well as the largest city on the
Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...
and in the
Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
region. Baku is below
sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...
, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world and also the largest city in the world below sea level. Baku lies on the southern shore of the
Absheron Peninsula The Absheron Peninsula () is a peninsula in Azerbaijan. It is the location of Baku, the most populous city of the country, and the Baku Metropolitan Area, with its satellite cities Sumqayit and Khyrdalan. It extends eastward into the Caspian S ...
, on the
Bay of Baku Bay of Baku (Baku Bay) is a natural harbor of the Baku port and local yacht club, on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula and on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Description It has an area of 50 km² and a coastline of 20&nb ...
. Baku's
urban population An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...
was estimated at two million people as of 2009. Baku is the
primate city A primate city is a city that is the largest in its country, province, state, or region, and disproportionately larger than any others in the urban hierarchy. A ''primate city distribution'' is a rank-size distribution that has one very large ...
of Azerbaijan—it is the sole metropolis in the country, and about 25% of all inhabitants of the country live in Baku's
metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...
. Baku is divided into twelve administrative raions and 48 townships. Among these are the townships on the islands of the
Baku Archipelago The Baku Archipelago is a group of coastal islands close to Baku, Azerbaijan. The waters surrounding the islands are shallow. Islands Besides their Azeri name, most islands have a Russian name that originated in the first modern cartography of t ...
, as well as the industrial settlement of
Neft Daşları Neft Daşları ( ) is an industrial settlement in Baku, Azerbaidjan, Azerbaijan. The settlement forms part of the municipality of Çilov-Neft Daşları in the Pirallahy raion. It lies away from the Azerbaijani capital Baku, and from the nearest ...
built on oil rigs away from Baku city in the Caspian Sea. The Old City, containing the
Palace of the Shirvanshahs The Palace of the Shirvanshahs (, ) is a 15th-century palace built by the Shirvanshahs and described by UNESCO as "one of the pearls of Azerbaijan's architecture". It is located in the Inner City of Baku, Azerbaijan and, together with the Maiden ...
and the Maiden Tower, was designated as a UNESCO
World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
in 2000. The city is the scientific, cultural, and industrial centre of Azerbaijan. Many sizeable Azerbaijani institutions have their headquarters there. In the 2010s, Baku became a venue for major international events. It hosted the 57th Eurovision Song Contest in 2012, the
2015 European Games The 1st European Games (), also known as the 2015 European Games or Baku 2015 (), were the inaugural edition of the European Games, an international multi-sport event for athletes representing the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the Europe ...
, 4th
Islamic Solidarity Games The Islamic Solidarity Games () is a multinational, multi-sport event. Managed jointly by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Islamic Solidarity Sports Association (ISSA), the Games involve elite athletes of the OIC competing in a ...
, the
European Grand Prix The European Grand Prix (also known as the Grand Prix of Europe) was a Formula One event that was introduced during the mid-1980s and was held every year from to , except in . During these years, the European Grand Prix was held in a countr ...
in 2016, the
Azerbaijan Grand Prix The Azerbaijan Grand Prix () is a Formula One motor racing event that was held for the first time in . It is held on the Baku City Circuit, a street circuit in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The event is due to take place at the Baku City Ci ...
since 2017, the
final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...
of the
2018–19 UEFA Europa League The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League was the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Olympic Sta ...
,
UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...
and
2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, more commonly known as COP29, was the 29th United Nations Climate Change conference. It was held at Baku Olympic Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 11 ...
. The
Baku International Sea Trade Port Port of Baku, located on the ancient Silk Road connecting Europe and Asia, is a prime transport and logistics hub of Eurasia. It covers an area of 400 hectares. Being an important segment of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, the Po ...
is capable of handling two million tonnes of general and dry bulk cargoes per year. Baku is renowned for its harsh winds, reflected in its nickname, the "City of Winds".


Etymology

Baku is long attested under the
Perso-Arabic The Persian alphabet (), also known as the Perso-Arabic script, is the right-to-left script, right-to-left alphabet used for the Persian language. It is a variation of the Arabic script with four additional letters: (the sounds 'g', 'zh', ' ...
name باکو (''Bākū''). Early
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
sources also refer to the city as ''Bākuh'' and ''Bākuya'', all of which seem to come from a
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
name. The further etymology is unclear. A
popular etymology A false etymology (fake etymology or pseudo-etymology) is a false theory about the origin or derivation of a specific word or phrase. When a false etymology becomes a popular belief in a cultural/linguistic community, it is a folk etymology (or po ...
in the 19th century considered it to be derived from Persian بادکوبه (''Bâd-kube'', meaning "wind-pounded city", a compound of ''bād'', "wind", and ''kube'', which is rooted in the verb کوبیدن ''kubidan'', "to pound", thus referring to a place where wind would be strong and pounding, as is the case of Baku, which is known to experience fierce winter snow storms and harsh winds). This popular name (''Badkubə'' in modern Azerbaijani script) gained currency as a nickname for the city by the 19th century (e.g., it is used in ''
Akinchi ''Akinchi'' (, ), also transliterated as ''Ekinchi'' ("The Cultivator"), was the first Azerbaijani-language newspaper, published in Baku (then part of the Russian Empire, now the capital of the Republic of Azerbaijan) between 1875 and 1877. It w ...
'', volume 1, issue 1, p. 1), and is also reflected in the city's modern nickname as the "City of Winds" (). Another and even less probable folk etymology explains the name as deriving from ''Baghkuy'', meaning "God's town". ''Baga'' (now ''بغ'' ''bagh'') and ''kuy'' are the
Old Persian Old Persian is one of two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of the Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as (I ...
words for "god" and "town" respectively; the name ''Baghkuy'' may be compared with ''
Baghdād Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
'' ("God-given") in which ''dād'' is the Old Persian word for "give". During Soviet rule, the city was spelled in Cyrillic as "Бакы" in Azerbaijani (while the
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
spelling was and still is "Баку", '). The modern Azerbaijani spelling, which has been using the Latin alphabet since 1991, is ; the shift from the Perso-Arabic letter و (''ū'') to Cyrillic "ы" and, later, Latin "ı" may be compared to that in other Azerbaijani words (e.g. compare ''qāpū'' in old Perso-Arabic spelling with modern Azerbaijani , "door") or in suffixes, as و was often used to transcribe the
vowel harmony In phonology, vowel harmony is a phonological rule in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – must share certain distinctive features (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, meaning tha ...
in Azerbaijani (which was also the practice in
Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...
). (See also
Azerbaijani alphabet The Azerbaijani alphabet (, , ) has three versions which includes the Arabic script, Arabic, Latin script, Latin, and Cyrillic alphabets. Azerbaijani language#North Azerbaijani, North Azerbaijani, the official language of Azerbaijan, Republic ...
.)


History


Antiquity

Traces of human settlement in the region of present-day Baku date back to the
Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...
.
Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
rock carvings have been discovered near Bayil, and a bronze figure of a small fish in the territory of the Old City. These have led some to suggest the existence of a Bronze-Age settlement within the city's territory. Near
Nardaran Nardaran is a settlement and municipality on the Abşeron Peninsula in Baku, Azerbaijan. It has a population of 8,300. Located 25 kilometers northeast of central Baku, it is politically part of the Baku city-subdivision and treated as a suburb. ...
, a place called Umid Gaya features a prehistoric observatory, where images of the sun and of various constellations are carved into rock together with a primitive astronomic table. Further archeological excavations have revealed various prehistoric settlements, native temples, statues and other artifacts within the territory of the modern city and around it. In the 1st century AD, the
Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
organised two Caucasian campaigns and reached what is today Baku. Near the city, in what is today Gobustan, Roman inscriptions dating from AD 84 to 96 survive – some of the earliest written evidences for a city there. According to the 6th-century archbishop and historian St. Sophronius of Cyprus, in 71, St.
Bartholomew the Apostle Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Most scholars today identify Bartholomew as Nathanael, who appears in the Gospel of John (1:45–51; cf. 21:2). New Testament references The name ''Bartholomew ...
was preaching Christianity in the city of Albana or Albanopolis, associated with present-day Baku or
Derbent Derbent, also historically known as Darband, or Derbend, is the southernmost city in Russia. It is situated along the southeastern coast of the Dagestan, Republic of Dagestan, occupying the narrow gateway between the Caspian Sea and the Caucas ...
, both located by the
Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...
. St. Bartholomew managed to convert even members of the local royal family who had worshipped the idol
Astaroth Astaroth (also Ashtaroth, Astarot and Astetoth), in demonology, is considered to be the Great Duke of Hell. He is described as a male figure, most likely named after the unrelated Near Eastern goddess Astarte. Background The name ''Ast ...
, but was later martyred by being
flayed Flaying is a method of slow and painful torture and/or execution in which skin is removed from the body. Generally, an attempt is made to keep the removed portion of skin intact. Scope A dead animal may be flayed when preparing it to be used a ...
alive and crucified head down on orders from the pagan king Astyages. The remains of St. Bartholomew were secretly transferred to
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...
.


Rise of the Shirvanshahs and the Safavid era

Baku was the realm of the
Shirvanshahs The Shirvanshahs (Arabic/) were the rulers of Shirvan (in present-day Azerbaijan) from 861 to 1538. The first ruling line were the Yazidids, an originally Arab and later Persianized dynasty, who became known as the Kasranids (also referred t ...
during the 8th century AD. The city frequently came under assault from the
Khazars The Khazars ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a nomadic Turkic people who, in the late 6th century CE, established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia, southern Ukraine, Crimea, a ...
and (starting from the 10th century) from the
Rus' Rus or RUS may refer to: People * East Slavic historical peoples (). See Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia ** Rus' people, the people of Rus' ** Rus, a legendary eponymous ancestor, see Lech, Czech and Rus * Rus (surname), a surname found in Ro ...
.
Akhsitan I Akhsitan I (also spelled Akhsatan; ) was the 20th Shirvanshah after 1160, and thought to have reigned until the years 1197–1203/04. He was the son and successor of Manuchihr III (). His mother was Tamar, a Georgian princess from the Bagratio ...
built a navy in Baku and successfully repelled a Rus' assault in 1170. After a devastating earthquake struck
Shamakhi Shamakhi (, ) is a city in Azerbaijan and the administrative centre of the Shamakhi District. The city's estimated population was 31,704. It is famous for its traditional dancers, the Shamakhi Dancers, and also for perhaps giving its name to th ...
, the capital of
Shirvan Shirvan (from ; ; Tat: ''Şirvan'') is a historical region in the eastern Caucasus, as known in both pre-Islamic Sasanian and Islamic times. Today, the region is an industrially and agriculturally developed part of the Republic of Azerbaijan ...
, Shirvanshah's court moved to Baku in 1191. The Shirvan era greatly influenced Baku and the remainder of present-day Azerbaijan. Between the 12th and 14th centuries, massive fortifications were built in Baku and the surrounding towns. The Maiden Tower, the
Ramana Tower Ramana Tower () – is a historical architectural monument located in the Ramana village of the Sabunchu district in Baku. The palace has been registered as a monument of global significance by the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan Republic. In ...
, the Nardaran Fortress, the Shagan Castle, the Mardakan Castle, the Round Castle and also the Sabayil Castle on the island of the
Bay of Baku Bay of Baku (Baku Bay) is a natural harbor of the Baku port and local yacht club, on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula and on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Description It has an area of 50 km² and a coastline of 20&nb ...
date from this period. The city walls of Baku were also rebuilt and strengthened. By the early 16th century, Baku's wealth and strategic position attracted the attention of its larger neighbours; in the previous two centuries, it was under the rule of the Iran-centred
Kara Koyunlu The Qara Qoyunlu or Kara Koyunlu (, ; ), also known as the Black Sheep Turkomans, were a culturally Persianate, Muslim Turkoman "Kara Koyunlu, also spelled Qara Qoyunlu, Turkish Karakoyunlular, English Black Sheep, Turkmen tribal federation th ...
and
Ak Koyunlu The Aq Qoyunlu or the White Sheep Turkomans (, ; ) was a culturally Persianate,Kaushik Roy, ''Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400–1750'', (Bloomsbury, 2014), 38; "Post-Mongol Persia and Iraq were ruled by two tribal confederations: ...
. The fall of the Ak Koyunlu brought the city immediately into the sphere of the newly formed Iranian
Safavid dynasty The Safavid dynasty (; , ) was one of Iran's most significant ruling dynasties reigning from Safavid Iran, 1501 to 1736. Their rule is often considered the beginning of History of Iran, modern Iranian history, as well as one of the gunpowder em ...
, led by king (''
shah Shāh (; ) is a royal title meaning "king" in the Persian language.Yarshater, Ehsa, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII, no. 1 (1989) Though chiefly associated with the monarchs of Iran, it was also used to refer to the leaders of numerous Per ...
'')
Ismail I Ismail I (; 17 July 1487 – 23 May 1524) was the founder and first shah of Safavid Iran, ruling from 1501 until his death in 1524. His reign is one of the most vital in the history of Iran, and the Safavid period is often considered the beginn ...
(). Ismail I laid siege to Baku in 1501 and captured it; he allowed the Shirvanshahs to remain in power, under Safavid suzerainty. His successor, king
Tahmasp I Tahmasp I ( or ; 22 February 1514 – 14 May 1576) was the second shah of Safavid Iran from 1524 until his death in 1576. He was the eldest son of Shah Ismail I and his principal consort, Tajlu Khanum. Tahmasp ascended the throne after the ...
(), completely removed the Shirvanshahs from power and made Baku a part of the
Shirvan Shirvan (from ; ; Tat: ''Şirvan'') is a historical region in the eastern Caucasus, as known in both pre-Islamic Sasanian and Islamic times. Today, the region is an industrially and agriculturally developed part of the Republic of Azerbaijan ...
province. Baku remained as an integral part of his empire and of successive Iranian dynasties for the next centuries, until ceded to the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
through the 1813
Treaty of Gulistan The Treaty of Gulistan (also spelled Golestan: ; ) was a peace treaty concluded between the Russian Empire and Qajar Iran on 24 October 1813 in the village of Gülüstan, Goranboy, Gulistan (now in Goranboy District, the Goranboy District of Azerb ...
. The House of Shirvan, which had ruled Baku since the 9th century, was extinguished in the course of Safavid rule. At this time, the city was enclosed within lines of strong walls, which were washed by the sea on one side and protected by a wide trench on land. The Ottomans briefly gained control over Baku as a result of the Ottoman-Safavid War of 1578–1590; by 1607, it came under Iranian control again. In 1604 Shah Abbas I () destroyed Baku fortress. Baku had a reputation as a focal point for traders from across the world during the
Early modern period The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...
; commerce was active and the area prospered. Notably, traders from the
Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...
established themselves in the region. These Indian traders built the
Ateshgah of Baku The Ateshgah of Baku (), often called the "Fire Temple of Baku", is a castle-like religious temple in Surakhany town (in Surakhany raion), a suburb in Baku, Azerbaijan. Based on Iranian and Indian inscriptions, the temple was used as a Hindu, ...
during 17th–18th centuries; the temple was used as a
Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
,
Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...
, and
Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, Zoroaster ( ). Among the wo ...
place of worship.


Downfall of the Safavids and the Khanate of Baku

The Safavids temporarily lost power in Iran in 1722; Emperor
Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...
of Russia took advantage of the situation and invaded. As a result of the Russo-Persian War of 1722–1723, the Safavids were forced to cede Baku to Russia. By 1730 the situation had deteriorated for the Russians; the successes of
Nader Shah Nader Shah Afshar (; 6 August 1698 or 22 October 1688 – 20 June 1747) was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran and one of the most powerful rulers in Iranian history, ruling as shah of Iran (Persia) from 1736 to 1747, when he was a ...
() led them to sign the
Treaty of Ganja The Treaty of Ganja was concluded between the Russian Empire and Safavids on 10 March 1735 during the Persian Siege of Ganja (1734) near the city of Ganja in present-day Azerbaijan. The treaty established a defensive alliance against the Ottoman Em ...
near
Ganja ''Ganja'' (, ; ) is one of the oldest and most commonly used synonyms for cannabis flower, specifically marijuana or hashish. Its usage in English dates to before 1689. Etymology ''Ganja'' is borrowed from Hindi (, IPA: aːɲd͡ʒa ...
on 10 March 1735, ceding the city and all other conquered territories in the Caucasus back to
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
. The eruption of instability following Nader Shah's death in 1747 gave rise to the various Caucasian khanates. The semi-autonomous Persian-ruled


Russo-Persian Wars and Iran's cession

From the late 18th century,
Imperial Russia Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * ...
switched to a more aggressive geopolitical stance towards its two neighbours and rivals to the south, namely Iran and the Ottoman Empire. In the spring of 1796, by
Catherine II Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter III ...
's order, General
Valerian Zubov Count Valerian Aleksandrovich Zubov (; 1771–1804) was a Russian general who led the Persian Expedition of 1796. His siblings included Platon Zubov and Olga Zherebtsova. Biography Valerian was born into the powerful Russian noble Zubov fam ...
's troops started a large campaign against
Qajar The Guarded Domains of Iran, alternatively the Sublime State of Iran and commonly called Qajar Iran, Qajar Persia or the Qajar Empire, was the Iranian state under the rule of the Qajar dynasty, which was of Turkic origin,Cyrus Ghani. ''Iran an ...
Persia. Zubov had sent 13,000 men to capture Baku, and it was overrun subsequently without any resistance. On 13 June 1796, a Russian flotilla entered Baku Bay, and a garrison of Russian troops was stationed inside the city. Later, however, Emperor
Paul I Paul I may refer to: *Paul of Samosata (200–275), Bishop of Antioch *Paul I of Constantinople (died c. 350), Archbishop of Constantinople *Pope Paul I (700–767) *Paul I Šubić of Bribir (c. 1245–1312), Ban of Croatia and Lord of Bosnia *Paul ...
of Russia ordered the cessation of the campaign and the withdrawal of Russian forces following the death of his predecessor,
Catherine the Great Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...
. In March 1797 the tsarist troops left Baku and the city became part of
Qajar Iran The Guarded Domains of Iran, alternatively the Sublime State of Iran and commonly called Qajar Iran, Qajar Persia or the Qajar Empire, was the Iranian state under the rule of the Qajar dynasty, which was of Turkic peoples, Turkic origin,Cyrus G ...
again. In 1813, following the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813, Qajar Iran had to sign the
Treaty of Gulistan The Treaty of Gulistan (also spelled Golestan: ; ) was a peace treaty concluded between the Russian Empire and Qajar Iran on 24 October 1813 in the village of Gülüstan, Goranboy, Gulistan (now in Goranboy District, the Goranboy District of Azerb ...
with Russia this provided for the cession of Baku and of most of Iran's territories in the
North Caucasus The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...
and
South Caucasus The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and West Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Armenia, ...
to Russia. During the next and final bout of hostilities between the two, the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828, the Iranians briefly recaptured Baku. However, the militarily superior Russians ended this war with a victory as well, and the resulting
Treaty of Turkmenchay The Treaty of Turkmenchay (; ) was an agreement between Qajar Iran and the Russian Empire, which concluded the Russo-Persian War (1826–1828). It was second of the series of treaties (the first was the 1813 Treaty of Gulistan and the last, the ...
(1828) made Baku's inclusion in the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
definite. When Baku was occupied by the Russian troops during the war of 1804–13, nearly the entire population of some 8,000 people was ethnic Tat. Baku within Russia was the administrative center of the Baku Uyezd,
Baku Governorate The Baku Governorate, known before 1859 as the Shemakha Governorate, was a province (''guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917), Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its center in the booming metropolis and Caspian Sea p ...
, and the
Baku Gradonachalstvo The Baku ''gradonachalstvo'' was a municipal district ('' gradonachalstvo'') based around the city of Baku in the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. The Baku ''gradonachalstvo'' was formed in 1906 on the territory of the Baku uezd of the ...
.


Discovery of oil

The Russians built the first oil-distilling factory in Balaxani in 1837. The first person to drill oil in Baku was an ethnic
Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
Ivan Mirzoev Ivan Mirzoev () (died 1880) was an Armenian businessman, the first person to drill oil in Baku and is considered one of the "founding fathers" of the Baku oil industry. He founded the Mirzoev Brothers oil company, which at the time had become one o ...
, who is also known as a 'founding father of Baku's oil industry.' Digging for oil began in the 1840s, with the first
oil well An oil well is a drillhole boring in Earth that is designed to bring petroleum oil hydrocarbons to the surface. Usually some natural gas is released as associated petroleum gas along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce only gas m ...
drilled in the Bibi-Heybat suburb of Baku in 1846. Large-scale
oil exploration Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for hydrocarbon deposits, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth's crust using petroleum geology. Exploration methods V ...
started in 1872 when the Russian imperial authorities auctioned parcels of oil-rich land around Baku to private investors. The pioneer of oil extracting from the bottom of the sea was the Polish geologist Witold Zglenicki. Soon after, investors appeared in Baku, including the Nobel Brothers in 1873 and the
Rothschilds The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family originally from Frankfurt. The family's documented history starts in 16th-century Frankfurt; its name is derived from the family house, Rothschild, ...
in 1882. An industrial area of oil refineries, better known as Black Town (), developed near Baku by the early 1880s. Professor A. V. Williams Jackson of Columbia University wrote in his work ''From Constantinople to the Home of Omar Khayyam'' (1911): By the beginning of the 20th century, half of the oil sold in international markets was extracted in Baku. The
oil boom An oil boom is a period of large inflow of income as a result of high global oil prices or large oil production in an economy. Generally, this short period initially brings economic benefits, in terms of increased GDP growth, but might later lead ...
contributed to the massive growth of Baku. Between 1856 and 1910 Baku's population grew at a faster rate than that of
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
, or
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
.


World War I

In 1917, after the
October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...
and amidst the turmoil of
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and the
Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...
, Baku came under the control of the
Baku Commune Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...
, led by the veteran Bolshevik
Stepan Shahumyan Stepan Georgevich Shaumian (; ; 1 October 1878 – 20 September 1918) was an Armenians, Armenian Bolsheviks, Bolshevik revolutionary and politician active throughout the Caucasus. His role as a leader of the Russian Revolution in the Caucasus ...
. Seeking to capitalize on the existing ethnic conflicts, by spring 1918, Bolsheviks inspired and condoned civil war in and around Baku. During the
March Days The March Days or March Events () was a period of inter-ethnic strife and clashes which took place between 30 March – 2 April 1918 in the city of Baku and adjacent areas of the Baku Governorate of the Transcaucasian Commissariat. Facilita ...
of 1918, Bolsheviks and
Dashnaks The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (, abbr. ARF (ՀՅԴ) or ARF-D), also known as Dashnaktsutyun (Armenian: Դաշնակցություն, lit. "Federation"), is an Armenian nationalist and socialist political party founded in 1890 in Tifl ...
, seeking to establish control over Baku streets, faced armed Azerbaijani groups. The Azerbaijanis suffered defeat from the united forces of the Baku Soviet and were massacred by Dashnak teams in what was called the
March Days The March Days or March Events () was a period of inter-ethnic strife and clashes which took place between 30 March – 2 April 1918 in the city of Baku and adjacent areas of the Baku Governorate of the Transcaucasian Commissariat. Facilita ...
. An estimated 3,000–12,000 Azerbaijanis were killed in their own capital. After the massacre, on 28 May 1918, the Azerbaijani faction of the
Transcaucasian Sejm The Transcaucasian Commissariat was established at Tbilisi on 15 November 1917, as the first government of the independent Transcaucasia following the October Revolution in Petrograd. The Commissariat decided to strengthen the Georgian–Armenia ...
proclaimed the independence of the
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (), also known as the Azerbaijan People's Republic (; ), was the first secular democracy, democratic republic in the Turkic peoples, Turkic and Muslim worlds. *Tadeusz Swietochowski. ''Russia and Azerbaijan: ...
(ADR) in
Ganja ''Ganja'' (, ; ) is one of the oldest and most commonly used synonyms for cannabis flower, specifically marijuana or hashish. Its usage in English dates to before 1689. Etymology ''Ganja'' is borrowed from Hindi (, IPA: aːɲd͡ʒa ...
, thereby founding the first Muslim-majority democratic and
secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...
republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...
. The newly independent Azerbaijani republic, being unable to defend the independence of the country on their own, asked the Ottoman Empire for military support in accordance with clause 4 of the treaty between the two countries. Shortly after, Azerbaijani forces, with support of the
Ottoman Army of Islam The Islamic Army of the Caucasus (; Turkish: ''Kafkas İslâm Ordusu'') (also translated as ''Caucasian Army of Islam'' in some sources) was a military unit of the Ottoman Empire formed on July 10, 1918. The Ottoman Minister of War, Enver Pasha ...
led by
Nuru Pasha Nuri Killigil, also known as Nuri Pasha (; 1889–1949) was an Ottoman general in the Ottoman Army. He was the half-brother of Ottoman Minister of War, Enver Pasha. Military career Libya Infantry Machine-Gun Captain Nuri Bey was sent t ...
, started their advance on Baku, eventually capturing the city from the loose coalition of
Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
s,
SRs SRS or SrS may stand for: Organizations and companies Companies *Sperry Rail Service, a rail inspection contractor *Stanford Research Systems, a test and measurement instruments manufacturer * SRS Cinemas, in India * SRS Labs, an American aud ...
,
Dashnaks The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (, abbr. ARF (ՀՅԴ) or ARF-D), also known as Dashnaktsutyun (Armenian: Դաշնակցություն, lit. "Federation"), is an Armenian nationalist and socialist political party founded in 1890 in Tifl ...
,
Menshevik The Mensheviks ('the Minority') were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903. Mensheviks held more moderate and reformist ...
s and British forces under the command of General
Lionel Dunsterville Major General Lionel Charles Dunsterville (9 November 1865 – 18 March 1946) was a British Army officer, who led Dunsterforce across present-day Iraq and Iran towards the Caucasus and Baku during the First World War. Early life Lionel Charle ...
on 15 September 1918. After the
Battle of Baku The Battle of Baku (, , ) took place in August and September 1918 between the Ottoman– Azerbaijani coalition forces led by Nuri Pasha and Bolshevik– ARF Baku Soviet forces, later succeeded by the British–Armenian– White Russian forces ...
of August–September 1918, the Azerbaijani irregular troops, with the tacit support of the Turkish command, conducted four days of pillaging and killing 10,000–30,000Andreopoulos, George (1997). ''Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions''. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, , p. 236. Armenians of Baku. This
pogrom A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of Massacre, massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century Anti-Jewis ...
became known as the "
September Days The September Days () refers to a period during the Russian Civil War in September 1918 when Armenian inhabitants of Baku, Azerbaijan, were massacred by Enver Pasha's Army of Islam and their local Azeri allies when they captured the soon-to-be ...
". Shortly after this, Baku was proclaimed the new capital of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. The Ottoman Empire, recognising defeat in World War I by October 1918, signed the
Armistice of Mudros The Armistice of Mudros () ended hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre between Ottoman Turkey and the Allies of World War I. It was signed on 30 October 1918 by the Ottoman Minister of Marine Affairs Rauf Bey and British Admiral Somerset ...
with the British (30 October 1918); this meant the evacuation of Turkish forces from Baku. Headed by General William Thomson, some 5,000 British troops, including parts of the former
Dunsterforce Dunsterforce was an Allied military force, established in December 1917 and named after its commander, Major-General Lionel Dunsterville. The force comprised fewer than 350 Australian, New Zealand, British and Canadian officers and NCOs, ...
, arrived in Baku on 17 November. Thomson declared himself military governor of Baku and implemented
martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...
in the city until "the civil power would be strong enough to release the forces from the responsibility to maintain the public order". British forces left before the end of 1919.


Soviet period

The independence of the Azerbaijani republic was a significant but short-lived chapter in Baku's history. On 28 April 1920, the 11th Red Army
invaded An invasion is a military offensive of combatants of one geopolitical entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory controlled by another similar entity, often involving acts of aggression. Generally, invasions have objectives of co ...
Baku and reinstalled the Bolsheviks, making Baku the capital of the
Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, also referred to as the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, Azerbaijan SSR, Azerbaijani SSR, AzSSR, Soviet Azerbaijan or simply Azerbaijan, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent re ...
within
Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...
. The city underwent many major changes. As a result, Baku played a great role in many branches of Soviet life. Baku was the major oil city of the Soviet Union. From about 1921 the city was headed by the Baku City Executive Committee, commonly known in Russian as ''Bakgorispolkom''. Together with Baku Party Committee (known as the ''Baksovet''), it developed the economic significance of the Caspian metropolis. From 1922 to 1930 Baku became the venue for one of the major
trade fair A trade show, also known as trade fair, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific Industry (economics), industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest Product (business), products and se ...
s of the Soviet Union, serving as a commercial bridgehead to Iran and the Middle East.


World War II

The major powers continued to note Baku's growing importance as a major energy hub. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
(1939–1945) and particularly during the 1942 Nazi German invasion of the southwestern Soviet Union, Baku became of vital strategic importance to the
Axis powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...
. In fact, capturing the oil fields of Baku was a primary goal of the
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
's
Operation Edelweiss The Battle of the Caucasus was a series of Axis powers, Axis and Soviet Union, Soviet operations in the Caucasus as part of the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II. On 25 July 1942, German troops captured Rostov-on-D ...
, carried out between May and November 1942. However, the
German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...
reached only a point some northwest of Baku in November 1942, falling far short of the city's capture before being driven back during the Soviet
Operation Little Saturn Operation Little Saturn () was a Red Army offensive on the Eastern Front of World War II that led to battles in Don and Chir rivers region in German-occupied Soviet Union territory in 16–30 December 1942. The success of Operation Uranus, lau ...
in mid-December 1942.


Fall of the Soviet Union and later

After the 1991
dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
, Baku embarked on a process of restructuring on a scale unseen in its history. Thousands of panel buildings from the 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 Bay of Baku (Baku Bay) is a natural harbor of the Baku port and local yacht club, on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula and on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Description It has an area of 50 km² and a coastline of 20&nb ...
. Improvements were made in general cleaning, maintenance, and garbage collection to bring these services up to Western European standards. The city is growing dynamically and developing at pace on an east–west axis along the shores of the
Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...
. Sustainability has become a key factor in future urban development.


Geography

Baku is situated on the western coast of the
Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...
. In the vicinity of the city there are a number of
mud volcano A mud volcano or mud dome is a landform created by the eruption of mud or Slurry, slurries, water and gases. Several geological processes may cause the formation of mud volcanoes. Mud volcanoes are not true Igneous rock, igneous volcanoes as th ...
es (Keyraki, Bogkh-bogkha, Lokbatan and others) and
salt lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per liter). I ...
s ( Boyukshor, Khodasan, etc.).


Climate

Baku has a
cold semi-arid climate Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...
(
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
: ''BSk'') with hot and humid summers, cool and occasionally wet winters, and strong winds all year long. However, unlike many other cities with such climate features, Baku does not see extremely hot summers and substantial sunshine hours. This is largely because of its northerly
latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...
and the fact that it is located on a peninsula on the shore of the Caspian Sea. Baku, and the
Absheron Peninsula The Absheron Peninsula () is a peninsula in Azerbaijan. It is the location of Baku, the most populous city of the country, and the Baku Metropolitan Area, with its satellite cities Sumqayit and Khyrdalan. It extends eastward into the Caspian S ...
on which it is situated, is the most arid part of Azerbaijan (
precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...
here is around or less than a year). This is largely due to the
rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from body of water, bodies of water (such as oceans and larg ...
effect from the
Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains * * Azerbaijani: , * * * * * * * * * * * is a mountain range at the intersection of Asia and Europe. Stretching between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, they are surrounded by the Caucasus region ...
, with corresponding latitudes on the
Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
on average receiving or more. The majority of the light annual precipitation occurs in seasons other than summer, but none of these seasons is particularly wet. During Soviet times, Baku, with its long hours of sunshine and dry healthy climate, was a vacation destination where citizens could enjoy beaches or relax in now-dilapidated
spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to pre ...
complexes overlooking the Caspian Sea. The city's past as a Soviet industrial centre left it one of the most polluted cities in the world, . At the same time, Baku is noted as a very windy city throughout the year, hence the city's nickname the "
City of Winds Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...
", and gale-force winds, the cold northern wind ''
khazri ''Khazri'' () is the name of the cold north Caspian Sea wind that blows across the Absheron Peninsula throughout the year, particularly in Baku. ''Khazri'' is a gale-force coastal wind and one of the prevailing winds in the area. The speed of ''kha ...
'' and the warm southern wind ''
gilavar Gilavar is a name of the warm southern wind which blows across eastern Azerbaijan throughout the year, particularly in Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the ...
'' are typical here in all seasons. Indeed, the city is renowned for its fierce winter snow storms and harsh winds. The speed of the ''khazri'' sometimes reaches , which can cause damage to crops, trees and roof tiles. The daily mean temperature in July and August averages , and there is very little rainfall during that season. During summer, the ''khazri'' sweeps through, bringing desired coolness. Winter is cool and occasionally wet, with the daily mean temperature in January and February averaging . During winter, the ''khazri'' sweeps through, driven by polar
air mass In meteorology, an air mass is a volume of air defined by its temperature and humidity. Air masses cover many hundreds or thousands of square miles, and adapt to the characteristics of the surface below them. They are classified according to ...
es; temperatures on the coast frequently drop below freezing and make it feel bitterly cold. Winter snow storms are occasional;
snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...
usually melts within a few days after each snowfall.


Administrative divisions

Baku is divided into 12 ''rayonlar (sub-rayons)'' (administrative districts) and 5 settlements of city type. * Binagadi (Binəqədi) raion * Garadagh (Qaradağ) raion * Khatai (Xətai) raion * Khazar (Xəzər) raion * Narimanov (Nərimanov) raion * Nasimi (Nəsimi) raion *
Nizami raion Nizami Rayon () is a municipal district of the city of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Its population is 201,239, and it includes the municipality of Keşlə. Of these, 25,626 lives in Keşlə municipality. The raion's area is 19.6 km². It is pos ...
* Pirallahi (Pirallahı) raion * Sabail (Səbail) raion * Sabunchu (Sabunçu) raion * Surakhani (Suraxanı) raion *
Yasamal raion Yasamal is a settlement and raion in Baku, Azerbaijan. As of 2023, it had a population of 225,600. It is one of the central districts of Baku. History Yasamal district was established in 1932 as the administrative unit of the district, from the ...


Demographics

Until 1988, Baku had very large Russian,
Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
, and
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
populations which contributed to
cultural diversity Cultural diversity is the quality of diverse or different cultures, as opposed to Monoculturalism, monoculture. It has a variety of meanings in different contexts, sometimes applying to cultural products like art works in museums or entertainment ...
and added in various ways (music, literature, architecture and progressive outlook) to Baku's history. With the onset of the
First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic conflict, ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nag ...
and the pogrom against Armenians starting in January 1990, the city's large Armenian population was expelled. After the
collapse of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
,
Azerbaijani President The president of the Republic of Azerbaijan is the head of state of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Constitution states that the president is the embodiment of executive power, commander-in-chief, "representative of Azerbaijan in home and for ...
Heydar Aliyev Heydar Alirza oghlu Aliyev (10 May 1923 – 12 December 2003) was an Azerbaijani politician who was a Soviet party boss in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic from 1969 to 1982, and the third president of Azerbaijan from October 1993 to ...
returned several synagogues and a Jewish college, nationalised by the Soviets, to the Jewish community; he encouraged the restoration of these buildings. Seven of the original 11 synagogues, including the Gilah synagogue, built in 1896, and the large Kruei Synagogue, were renovated.


Ethnic groups

Today, the vast majority of Baku's population is made up of ethnic
Azerbaijanis Azerbaijanis (; , ), Azeris (, ), or Azerbaijani Turks (, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group living mainly in the Azerbaijan (Iran), Azerbaijan region of northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. They are predomin ...
, and the rest are
Talysh Talysh may refer to: *Talysh people, an ethnic group of Iran and Azerbaijan **Talysh language, the West Iranian language of these people ** Talysh, a historical region on the southwestern coast of the Caspian Sea, inhabited by the Talysh people *T ...
,
Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...
, Lezgi and others. The intensive growth of the population started in the middle of the 19th century when Baku was a small town with a population of about 7,000 people. The population increased again from about 13,000 in the 1860s to 112,000 in 1897 and 215,000 in 1913, making Baku the largest city in the Caucasus region. Baku has been a cosmopolitan city at certain times during its history, meaning ethnic Azerbaijanis did not constitute the majority of population. It was only in the 1970s that ethnic Azerbaijanis achieved demographic dominance in Baku. In 2003 Baku additionally had 153,400
internally displaced person An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who is forced to leave their home but who remains within their country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the legal definitions of a refugee. I ...
s and 93,400 refugees.


Religion

The religion with the largest community of followers is Islam. The majority of the Muslims are
Shia Muslims Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...
, and the Republic of Azerbaijan has the second-highest Shia population percentage in the world, after
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
. The city's notable mosques include
Juma Mosque Juma Mosque may refer to mosques in the following countries: In Azerbaijan * Agdam Mosque, also known as ''Juma Mosque'', in Aghdam * Juma Mosque (Baku) * Juma Mosque (Balaken) * Juma Mosque, Ganja * Juma Mosque, Nakhchivan * Juma Mosque, Ordubad * ...
,
Bibi-Heybat Mosque The Bibi-Heybat Mosque () is located in the village of Bibiheybət, near Baku, Azerbaijan. The current structure, completed in the 1990s, replicates the original 13th-century mosque built at the behest of Shirvanshah Farrukhzad II Ibn Ahsitan II ...
,
Muhammad Mosque The Muhammad Mosque or Siniggala Mosque is a former mosque, located in the Old City (Baku), Old City of Baku, Azerbaijan. The mosque was built in the 11th century. It is the first building in Azerbaijan, which is related to Islam and dated fo ...
and
Taza Pir Mosque The Taza Pir Mosque () is a Shia Islam mosque, located in Baku, Azerbaijan. Its construction began in 1905 and was finished by 1914. The concept for the mosque as well as its financing was provided by an Azeri female philanthropist, Nabat Khanum ...
. There are some other faiths practised among the different ethnic groups within the country. By article 48 of its
Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...
, Azerbaijan is a
secular state is an idea pertaining to secularity, whereby a state is or purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion, supporting neither religion nor irreligion. A secular state claims to treat all its citizens equally regardless of relig ...
and ensures religious freedom. Religious minorities include
Russian Orthodox Christians The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...
, Catholic Levantines, Georgian Orthodox Christians, Albanian-Udi Apostolic Christians,
Lutherans Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...
,
Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...
Jews,
Molokans The Molokans ( rus, молокан, p=məlɐˈkan or , "dairy-eater") are a Russian Spiritual Christian sect that evolved from Eastern Orthodoxy in the East Slavic lands. Their traditions, especially dairy consumption during Christian fasts, ...
, and
Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
Muslims. Baku is the seat of the
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
Apostolic Prefecture of Azerbaijan.
Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zoroaster, Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, ...
, although extinct in the city as well as in the rest of the country by the present time, had a long history in Azerbaijan and the Zoroastrian New Year (Nowruz) continues to be the main holiday in the city as well as in the rest of Azerbaijan.


Economy

Baku is the economic hub of Azerbaijan, hosting many of the country's major companies and serving as the center for key industries such as oil and gas, finance, trade, and technology. The city is home to major financial institutions, multinational corporations, and various businesses that contribute to the country's economy. Baku accounts for approximately 65% of Azerbaijan's total
GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performance o ...
. Azerbaijani conglomerates such as PASHA Holding which is headquartered in Baku, and AF Holding, operate in the city. Baku also attracts a significant portion of the country's
workforce In macroeconomics, the workforce or labour force is the sum of people either working (i.e., the employed) or looking for work (i.e., the unemployed): \text = \text + \text Those neither working in the marketplace nor looking for work are out ...
, with many people relocating for job opportunities and business prospects. As of the end of the first quarter of 2023, 52% of hired workers in Azerbaijan were employed in Baku. In addition to its role as the economic hub, Baku is home to the largest port in the
Caspian Caspian can refer to: *The Caspian Sea *The Caspian Depression, surrounding the northern part of the Caspian Sea *The Caspians, the ancient people living near the Caspian Sea *The Caspian languages spoken in northern Iran and southeastern Azerbaij ...
Sea A sea is a large body of salt water. There are particular seas and the sea. The sea commonly refers to the ocean, the interconnected body of seawaters that spans most of Earth. Particular seas are either marginal seas, second-order section ...
, the
Baku International Sea Trade Port Port of Baku, located on the ancient Silk Road connecting Europe and Asia, is a prime transport and logistics hub of Eurasia. It covers an area of 400 hectares. Being an important segment of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, the Po ...
, more commonly known as Port of Baku. It handles a wide range of
cargo In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in cas ...
, including
container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...
s,
bulk goods Bulk cargo is product cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities. Description Bulk cargo refers to material in either liquid or granular, particulate (as a mass of relatively small solids) form, such as petroleum/crude oil, ...
, and liquid cargo, with an annual capacity of 15 million tons of cargo. The port also plays an essential role in the
Trans-Caspian International Transport Route The Middle Corridor, also called TITR (''Trans-Caspian International Transport Route''), is a trade route from Southeast Asia and China to Europe via Kazakhstan, Caspian Sea (using train ferries to cross the Caspian), Azerbaijan, Georgia and Tur ...
, facilitating trade between
East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...
,
Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
,
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, and the
Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
through integrated sea, rail, and road transport. Baku's largest industry is petroleum, and its petroleum exports make it a large contributor to Azerbaijan's
balance of payments In international economics, the balance of payments (also known as balance of international payments and abbreviated BOP or BoP) of a country is the difference between all money flowing into the country in a particular period of time (e.g., a ...
. The existence of petroleum has been known since the 8th century. In the 10th century, the Arabian traveler, Marudee, reported that both white and black oil were being extracted naturally from Baku. By the 15th century, oil for lamps was obtained from hand-dug surface wells. Commercial exploitation began in 1872, and by the beginning of the 20th century the Baku oil fields were the largest in the world. Towards the end of the 20th century, much of the onshore petroleum had been exhausted, and drilling had extended into the sea offshore. By the end of the 19th century
skilled worker A skilled worker is any worker who has special skill, training, or knowledge which they can then apply to their work. A skilled worker may have learned their skills through work experience, on-the-job training, an apprenticeship program or f ...
s and specialists flocked to Baku. By 1900 the city had more than 3,000 oil wells, of which 2,000 were producing oil at industrial levels. Baku ranked as one of the largest centres for the production of
oil industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest volume products ...
equipment before World War II. The World War II
Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad ; see . rus, links=on, Сталинградская битва, r=Stalingradskaya bitva, p=stəlʲɪnˈɡratskəjə ˈbʲitvə. (17 July 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II, ...
was fought to determine who would have control of Baku oil fields. Fifty years before the battle, Baku produced half of the world's oil supply. The oil economy of Baku is undergoing a resurgence, with the development of the massive Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field (Shallow water Gunashli by
SOCAR The State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (), largely known by its abbreviation SOCAR, is a fully state-owned national oil and gas company headquartered in Baku, Azerbaijan. The company produces oil and natural gas from onshore and o ...
, deeper areas by a consortium led by BP), development of the
Shah Deniz gas field Shah Deniz gas field () is the largest natural gas field in Azerbaijan. It is situated in the South Caspian Sea, off the coast of Azerbaijan, approximately southeast of Baku, at a depth of . The field covers approximately . Stretching out over 1 ...
, the expansion of the
Sangachal Terminal The Sangachal Terminal is an industrial complex consisting of a natural gas processing plant and oil production plant, located on the coast of the Caspian Sea south of Baku, Azerbaijan. History Construction of the terminal began in 1996 with t ...
and the construction of the
BTC Pipeline BTC may refer to: Organizations * BAL Bashkirian Airlines (ICAO code) * Behavior Tech Computer, a Taiwanese computer hardware manufacturer * Belize Trans Colours, a Belizean LGBT rights organisation * Bodoland Territorial Council * Botswana Tele ...
. The
South Caucasus Pipeline The South Caucasus Pipeline (also known as Baku–Tbilisi–Erzurum Pipeline, BTE pipeline, or Shah Deniz Pipeline) is a natural gas pipeline from the Shah Deniz gas field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea to Turkey. It runs parallel ...
(SCP), also known as the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum Pipeline, transports natural gas from Azerbaijan's
Shah Deniz gas field Shah Deniz gas field () is the largest natural gas field in Azerbaijan. It is situated in the South Caspian Sea, off the coast of Azerbaijan, approximately southeast of Baku, at a depth of . The field covers approximately . Stretching out over 1 ...
to Turkey, with further connections to Europe. Spanning over 690 kilometers, the pipeline has been operational since 2007 and plays a central role in the
Southern Gas Corridor The Southern Gas Corridor is an initiative of the European Commission for a natural gas supply route from Caspian and Middle Eastern regions to Europe, proposed in 2008. The goal of the Southern Gas Corridor is to reduce Europe's dependency on R ...
, which aims to diversify Europe's energy sources with an annual export capacity of up to 25 billion cubic metres of gas. The Baku Stock Exchange is Azerbaijan's largest
stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for ...
, and largest in the
Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Common meanings *Anything from the Caucasus region or related to it ** Ethnic groups in the Caucasus ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus re ...
region by
market capitalization Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by ...
. A relatively large number of transnational companies are headquartered in Baku. One of the more prominent institutions headquartered in Baku is the
International Bank of Azerbaijan ABB (from ; formerly known as International Bank of Azerbaijan) is the largest bank in Azerbaijan, it's an open joint-stock company whose shares are owned by the Azerbaijani state. Its head office is located in Azerbaijan. The bank rebranded it ...
, which employs over 1,000 people. International banks with branches in Baku include
HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...
,
Société Générale Société Générale S.A. (), colloquially known in English-speaking countries as SocGen (), is a French multinational universal bank and financial services company founded in 1864. It is registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby i ...
and
Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG (, ) was a global Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration ...
.


Tourism and shopping

Baku is one of the most important tourist destinations in the Caucasus, with hotels in the city earning 7 million euros in 2009. Many sizable world
hotel chain A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suite (hotel), suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a d ...
s have a presence in the city. Baku has many popular tourist and entertainment spots, such as the downtown Fountains Square, the One and Thousand Nights Beach,
Shikhov Beach Shikhov Beach ( Azeri: Şıxov çimərliyi) is a resort area with a beach in Shikhov, southwest of central Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, and adjacent to the Shikhov Cape. Lying on the Caspian Sea coast, it is politically part of the Bak ...
and
Oil Rocks An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturat ...
. Baku's vicinities feature
Yanar Dag Yanar Dagh (, ) is a natural gas fire that burns perpetually on a hillside on the Absheron Peninsula near Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, a country known as " the Land of Fire". Flames rise up to from a thin, porous layer of sandstone. The Yan ...
, an ever-blazing spot of natural gas. On 2 September 2010 with the inauguration of
National Flag Square State Flag Square () is a public square situated along Neftchiler Avenue in Bayil, Baku, Azerbaijan. Spanning , with its upper section covering , the square prominently displays national symbols of Azerbaijan, including the state coat of arms ...
, Baku set the
world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...
for tallest
flagpole A flagpole, flagmast, flagstaff, or staff is a pole designed to support a flag. If it is taller than can be easily reached to raise the flag, a cord is used, looping around a pulley at the top of the pole with the ends tied at the bottom. The fla ...
; on 24 May 2011, the city of
Dushanbe Dushanbe is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 1,564,700, with this population being largely Tajiks, Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe, and from 1929 to 1961 as St ...
in
Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...
set a new record with a -higher flagpole. A few years later, the Flag Pole was dismantled and the National Flag Square was closed off with fences. It was opened once again after years of repair on November 8, 2024, to commemorate the
Victory Day Victory Day is a commonly used name for public holidays in various countries, where it commemorates a nation's triumph over a hostile force in a war or the liberation of a country from hostile occupation. In many cases, multiple countries may ob ...
over Armenia's forces in
Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh (, ; ) is a region in Azerbaijan, covering the southeastern stretch of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. Part of the greater region of Karabakh, it spans the area between Lower Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik. Its ter ...
region of Azerbaijan. The National Flag Square features a museum, with a collection of about 400 items, along with flags of Khanates and Empires that have been prevalent in the region. Baku has several shopping malls, including Ganjlik Mall, Deniz Mall, Crescent Mall, Port Baku Mall, 28 Mall,
Park Bulvar Park Bulvar () is a multi-story shopping mall located on Baku Boulevard in downtown Baku, Azerbaijan, in the city center. Situated near the Government House of Baku, the mall spans four floors and includes two additional subterranean levels. Co ...
, City Park and Metro Park. The retail areas contain shops from chain stores up to high-end boutiques. Ganjlik Mall particularly stands out, as it is the largest mall in the city of Baku. Crescent Mall is the newest shopping center in Baku, opening on May 28, 2024. It adds to the city's growing collection of malls, bringing a variety of stores, restaurants, and entertainment options to the area. The city is listed 48th in the 2011
list A list is a Set (mathematics), set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of t ...
of the most expensive cities in the world conducted by the Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Nizami Street, also known as Targovaya, and the
Neftchilar Avenue Neftchiler Avenue (; literally Oil Worker's Avenue) is an arterial road in Baku, Azerbaijan. It begins at the west end of the Bayil district of Baku and continues east until terminating at Javanshir Bridge (formerly Gagarin Bridge) intersectin ...
, a street known for being home to many luxury and high fashion shops such as
Gucci Guccio Gucci S.p.A., doing business as Gucci ( , ), is an Italian Luxury goods, luxury fashion house based in Florence. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and ...
,
Dolce & Gabbana Dolce & Gabbana (), also known by initials D&G, is an Italian Luxury goods, luxury fashion house founded in 1985 in Legnano by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. The house specializes in ready-to-wear, handbags, accessories, ...
,
Tom Ford Thomas Carlyle Ford (born August 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer and filmmaker. He launched Tom Ford (brand), his eponymous brand in 2005, having previously been the creative director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent (brand), Yves Sai ...
,
Burberry Burberry Group plc is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry and headquartered in London, England. It designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats, leather accessories, and footwear. It is l ...
, Celine, are among the most expensive streets in the world. Monthly expenses for a single person in Baku are estimated to be around 945 manat without rent (US$555), which is significantly lower in comparison to other countries. For example, average cost of living for a person in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, is about US$1308, while in
Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...
,
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
, its US$1074. Living costs in Baku per person are below average when comparing to other developed countries, however, average reported salary of a Bakuvian sits at 997 manat, or about US$586.


Culture

Baku, often referred to as the " Paris of the East," is a city where
Eastern Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...
and
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
cultural traditions coexist. The city's core is the historic center, known as
Icheri Sheher Old City or Inner City () is the historical core of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The Old City is the most ancient part of Baku, which is surrounded by walls. In 2007, the Old City had a population of about 3,000 people. In December 2000, the ...
or the Inner City, commonly referred to as the Old City, which contains various landmarks dating back to at least the 12th century. Among these are the Maiden Tower and the Shirvanshahs' Palace. These buildings reflect the city's history and the Asian architectural styles that have influenced Baku's development. The city's skyline showcases a blend of traditional and
contemporary architecture Contemporary architecture is the architecture of the 21st century. No single style is dominant. Contemporary architects work in several different styles, from postmodernism, high-tech architecture and new references and interpretations of tradit ...
, with places like
Baku Boulevard Baku Boulevard (, also known as National Park) is a promenade established in 1909 which runs parallel to Baku's seafront. Its history goes back more than 100 years, to a time when Baku oil barons built their mansions along the Caspian Sea, Caspi ...
and Fountains Square presenting a harmonious mix of historic and modern design elements. The urban landscape of Baku is characterized by a diverse range of buildings that combine the charm of the past with the innovation of the present. Baku also has a variety of museums and galleries, including the
National Art Museum of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan National Museum of Art () is the biggest art museum of Azerbaijan. It was founded in 1936 in Baku and in 1943 was named after Rustam Mustafayev, a prominent Azerbaijani scenic designer and theater artist. The museum consists of two 19 ...
and the
National Museum of History of Azerbaijan The National Museum of History of Azerbaijan () is the largest museum in Azerbaijan. It is located in Baku, in the former residential house of Azerbaijani oil magnate and philanthropist Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev. The museum was founded in 1920, ...
, which display both traditional Azerbaijani and contemporary art. The city maintains certain traditional crafts such as carpet-weaving and pottery, of which majority are displayed in
Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum (, formerly called the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum) is a museum located in Baku that displays Azerbaijani carpets and rugs with historical and modern weaving techniques and materials. It has the largest collection o ...
, with older techniques still practiced. Baku's theater scene includes institutions like the
Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater The Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater () is an opera house in Baku, Azerbaijan. Formerly known as the Mailov Theatre (), was built in 1911 by Armenian architect Nikolai Bayev.
and the
Azerbaijan State Academic National Drama Theatre The Azerbaijan State Academic Drama Theatre () is an academic theatre of drama in Baku, Azerbaijan. History of the theatre The theatre has its origins in national holidays and dances. Elements of theatricality were contained in many kinds of nat ...
, which host both local and international performances. Music is an important part of Baku's cultural landscape, with mugham being a traditional genre of music that has been recognized by
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
as part of the
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity UNESCO established its Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage with the aim of ensuring better protection of important intangible cultural heritages worldwide and the awareness of their significance.Compare: This list is published by the Intergover ...
, which was proclaimed to be a "Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity." The city also has a diverse music scene, with genres such as
pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...
,
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
, and
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
being represented. Additionally, Baku hosts events like the
Baku International Jazz Festival The Baku International Jazz Festival is an annual jazz event founded and organized by saxophonist and Baku resident Rain Sultanov. The festival aims to showcase Azerbaijan's long-running attachment to jazz, a connection established in the count ...
and the Baku International Film Festival. In 2007, the
Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre The Heydar Aliyev Center () is a building complex in Baku, Azerbaijan, designed by Zaha Hadid and noted for its distinctive architecture and flowing, curved style that eschews sharp angles. The main contractor, Dia Holdings, is owned by actors ...
, designed by
Pritzker Prize The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment which has produced consisten ...
-winning architect
Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-born British architect, artist, and designer. She is recognised as a key figure in the architecture of the late-20th and early-21st centuries. Born ...
, was opened. Baku also has many museums such as
Baku Museum of Modern Art Baku Museum of Modern Art () is a museum of modern art located in Baku, Azerbaijan. History The museum was built at the initiative of the First Lady of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva and opened on 20 March 2009. It was funded by the Heydar Aliy ...
and
National Museum of History The National Museum of History (NMH; ) is located in the Nanhai Academy in Zhongzheng District, Taipei, Taiwan. After the Republic of China government moved to Taiwan, the National Museum of History was the first museum to be established in Tai ...
, most notably featuring historical artifacts and art. Many of the city's cultural sites were celebrated in 2009 when Baku was designated an Islamic Culture Capital. Baku was chosen to host the
Eurovision Dance Contest The Eurovision Dance Contest was an international ballroom dancing competition organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the International DanceSport Federation (IDSF). The IDSF credits the existence of the contest to Richard Bunn ...
2010. It has also become the first city to host the first
European Games The European Games is a continental multi-sport event in the Olympic tradition contested by athletes from countries served by national Olympic committees within the European Olympic Committees (EOC), the regional association for such committ ...
in
2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
.


Theatres

*
Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater The Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater () is an opera house in Baku, Azerbaijan. Formerly known as the Mailov Theatre (), was built in 1911 by Armenian architect Nikolai Bayev.
*
Azerbaijan State Academic National Drama Theatre The Azerbaijan State Academic Drama Theatre () is an academic theatre of drama in Baku, Azerbaijan. History of the theatre The theatre has its origins in national holidays and dances. Elements of theatricality were contained in many kinds of nat ...
*
Azerbaijan State Russian Drama Theatre The Samed Vurgun Azerbaijan State Russian Drama Theatre (, ), is a performing art located in Baku, Azerbaijan, that produced plays in the Russian language. The performances of the theatre are mainly from the Russian works of art and literature, an ...
named after Samad Vurgun *
Baku Puppet Theatre The Baku Puppet Theatre (formally Azerbaijan State Puppet Theatre named after Abdulla Shaig, ) is a puppet theatre located on Neftchiler Avenue of Baku. It was built in eclectic style in 1910 by Polish architect Józef Płoszko, initially as the ...
(formally Azerbaijan State Puppet Theatre named after Abdulla Shaig) *
Azerbaijan State Theatre of Young Spectators Azerbaijan State Theater of Young Spectators () is a theatre located in the centre of Baku, Azerbaijan. History of the theater Azerbaijan State Theater of Young Spectators (ASTYS) was founded in 1928 as Baku Children’s Theater according to the ...
*
Azerbaijan State Theatre of Musical Comedy Azerbaijan State Theatre of Musical Comedy () is one of the leading musical theatres of Azerbaijan. History The premiere of ''Husband and wife'', a musical comedy written by Uzeyir Hajibeyov in 1909, was held on May 24, 1910, in the building of t ...
*
Baku State Circus Baku State Circus () is the main arena circus of Baku, capital of Azerbaijan. History In the 1890s, Nikitin's brothers opened a first circus-zoo in Baku. In 1904, they built the first Circus-building in the East on the intersection of Nizami str ...
* "Oda" Theatre * Baku Marionette Theatre * Baku Municipal Theatre *
Azerbaijan State Pantomime Theatre Azerbaijan State Pantomime Theatre () is a pantomime theatre in Baku, Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West As ...
* Mugham Azerbaijan National Music Theatre * Azerbaijan State Theatre of Song named after Rashid Behbudov * "UNS" Theatre * "Yugh" Theatre Among Baku's cultural venues are
Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall The Muslim Magomayev Azerbaijan State Academic Philharmonic Hall (), located in Baku, is the main concert hall in Azerbaijan built in 1910. Since 2006 Murad Adigozalzade is the director of the Azerbaijan State Academic Philharmonic Hall. History ...
,
Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre The Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater () is an opera house in Baku, Azerbaijan. Formerly known as the Mailov Theatre (), was built in 1911 by Armenian architect Nikolai Bayev.
. The main
movie theater A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...
is Azerbaijan Cinema. Festivals include Baku International Film Festival,
Baku International Jazz Festival The Baku International Jazz Festival is an annual jazz event founded and organized by saxophonist and Baku resident Rain Sultanov. The festival aims to showcase Azerbaijan's long-running attachment to jazz, a connection established in the count ...
, Novruz Festival, ''Gül Bayramı'' (Flower Festival) and the National Theater Festival. International and local exhibitions are presented at the
Baku Expo Centre Baku (, ; ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital cities by elevation, lowest lying national cap ...
.


Museums

File:National Museum of History of Azerbaijan 10.JPG,
National Museum of History The National Museum of History (NMH; ) is located in the Nanhai Academy in Zhongzheng District, Taipei, Taiwan. After the Republic of China government moved to Taiwan, the National Museum of History was the first museum to be established in Tai ...
File:Nizami Museum of Azerbaijan Literature, Baku, 2015.jpg, Nizami Museum of Literature File:National Art Museum of Azerbaijan (de Burs House) edited.jpg, National Art Museum File:Villa Petrolea front.jpg,
Villa Petrolea Villa Petrolea is a historical district located in the Keshla municipality of Baku, Azerbaijan. Built by the Petroleum Production Company Nobel Brothers (also known as Branobel) in 1882, it served to accommodate workers of the company. It curren ...
File:Baku Museum of Modern Art entrance.jpg,
Baku Museum of Modern Art Baku Museum of Modern Art () is a museum of modern art located in Baku, Azerbaijan. History The museum was built at the initiative of the First Lady of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva and opened on 20 March 2009. It was funded by the Heydar Aliy ...
File:“From Waste to Art” Museum.jpg, “From Waste to Art” Museum
* The Museum Centre *
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography The Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography is a museum in Baku, Azerbaijan, that was established in 1976. It bears the name of the Azerbaijani architect- Mikayil Huseynov. The museum has two parts. The ethnography section displays materials related ...
* Azerbaijan State Carpet Museum * Azerbaijan Museum of Geology * “From Waste to Art” Museum


Absheron Museum of History and Local Studies

The Absheron Museum of History and Local Studies() started its activities on 21 November 1983. The area of the museum, which was thoroughly renovated in 2015, is 296 square meters and consists of 5 halls. Currently, about 3000 exhibits are preserved in the museum and 1800 items are displayed in the exposition. Exhibits reflecting the history, geography, nature, everyday life and culture of Absheron region are preserved in the museum. The museum consists of 4 halls, 1 fund room and 1 room for employees. The exhibition area is 250 square meters, the manager's room is 1 square meter, the fund room is 10 square meters, and the staff room is 25 square meters. In 2018, the number of visitors to the museum was 1,932.


Libraries

*
National Library of Azerbaijan The National Library of Azerbaijan (), officially named the Mirza Fatali Akhundov National Library of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani language, Azerbaijani: ''Mirzə Fətəli Axundov adına Azərbaycan Milli Kitabxanası'') after Mirza Fatali Akhundov, is ...
*
ANAS Central Library of Science The ANAS Central Library of Science (Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences) was founded in 1923 in Baku, Azerbaijan. History After the biggest Library in Transcaucasia was shut down for some years in 1920, Baku needed a new library. In Nov ...
* Presidential Library (former Library of the Armenian Philanthropic Society)


Architecture

Baku has wildly varying architecture, ranging from the Old City core to modern buildings and the spacious layout of Baku port. Many of the city's landmarks were built during the early 20th century, when architectural elements of the European styles were combined in
eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...
style. Baku has an original and unique appearance, earning it a reputation as the ''Paris of the East''. Baku joined
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
's Network of Creative Cities as a Design City on 31 October 2019 on the occasion of World Cities' Day.


Hamams

There are a number of ancient hamams in Baku dating back to the 12th, 14th and 18th centuries. Hamams play a very important role in the architectural appearance of Baku.


= Teze Bey Hamam

= Teze Bey is the most popular hamam (traditional Islamic bath) in Baku. It was built in 1886 in the centre of Baku, and in 2003 it was fully restored and modernised. Along with its modern amenities, Teze Bey features a swimming pool and architectural details inspired by Oriental, Russian and Finnish baths.


= Gum Hamam

= Gum Hamam was discovered during archaeological excavations underneath the sand; hence the name: Gum hamam (sand bath). It was built sometime during the 12th–14th centuries.


= Bairamali hamam

= In ancient times, Bairamali Hamam was called "Bey Hamam". The original structure was built sometime during the 12th–14th centuries and was reconstructed in 1881.


= Agha Mikayil Hamam

= Agha Mikayil Hamam was constructed in the 18th century by Haji Agha Mikayil on Kichik Gala Street in the Old City (Icherisheher). It is still operating in its ancient setting. The Hamam is open to women on Mondays and Fridays and to men on the other days of the week.


Modern architecture

Late modern and postmodern architecture began to appear in the early 2000s. With economic development, old buildings such as Atlant House were razed to make way for new ones. Buildings with all-glass shells have appeared around the city, the most prominent examples being the International Mugham Center,
Azerbaijan Tower The Azerbaijan Tower was a planned megatall skyscraper intended to be constructed on the Khazar Islands, 25 km (16 mi) south of Baku, in Azerbaijan. Overview The president of the Avesta Group of Companies, Ibrahim Ibrahimov, state ...
,
Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre The Heydar Aliyev Center () is a building complex in Baku, Azerbaijan, designed by Zaha Hadid and noted for its distinctive architecture and flowing, curved style that eschews sharp angles. The main contractor, Dia Holdings, is owned by actors ...
,
Flame Towers The Flame Towers () are a group of three skyscrapers in Baku, Azerbaijan. The main contractor, Dia Holdings, is owned by two brothers who are linked to Azerbaijan's ruling Aliyev family's network of offshore companies. The height of the tallest t ...
,
Baku Crystal Hall Baku Crystal Hall ( Azerbaijani: ''Bakı Kristal Zalı'') is an indoor arena in Baku, Azerbaijan. It is located on the coast of Baku near National Flag Square. Construction of the arena began in August 2011 and finished in April 2012in time for ...
, Baku White City,
SOCAR Tower SOCAR Tower is a skyscraper in Baku, Azerbaijan. It is the 2nd tallest building in Baku and in Azerbaijan. The skyscraper serves as the headquarters of SOCAR (State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic). It is one of Baku's major landmarks, a ...
and DENIZ Mall. These projects also caught the attention of international media as notable programmes such as
Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...
's
Extreme Engineering ''Extreme Engineering'' is a documentary television series that aired on the Discovery Channel and the Science Channel. The program featured future and ongoing engineering projects. After ending of season 3 it airs under the ''Build It Bigger'' ...
did pieces focusing in on changes to the city. The Old City of Baku, also known as the Walled City of Baku, refers to the ancient Baku settlement. Most of the walls and towers, strengthened after the Russian conquest in 1806, survived. This section is picturesque, with its maze of narrow alleys and ancient buildings: the cobbled streets past the
Palace of the Shirvanshahs The Palace of the Shirvanshahs (, ) is a 15th-century palace built by the Shirvanshahs and described by UNESCO as "one of the pearls of Azerbaijan's architecture". It is located in the Inner City of Baku, Azerbaijan and, together with the Maiden ...
, two
caravansaries A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was an inn that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and caravans. They were present throughout much of the Islamic world. Depending on the region and period, they were called by a variety of names incl ...
, the baths and the
Juma Mosque Juma Mosque may refer to mosques in the following countries: In Azerbaijan * Agdam Mosque, also known as ''Juma Mosque'', in Aghdam * Juma Mosque (Baku) * Juma Mosque (Balaken) * Juma Mosque, Ganja * Juma Mosque, Nakhchivan * Juma Mosque, Ordubad * ...
(which used to house the Azerbaijan National Carpet and Arts Museum but is now a mosque again). The old town core also has dozens of small mosques, often without any particular sign to distinguish them as such. In 2003, UNESCO placed the Inner City on the
List of World Heritage in Danger The List of World Heritage in Danger is compiled by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) through the World Heritage Committee according to Article 11.4 of the World Heritage Convention,Full title: ''Conv ...
, citing damage from a November 2000 earthquake, poor conservation as well as "dubious" restoration efforts. In 2009 the Inner City was removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger.


Visual arts

The three main institutions for exhibiting
modern Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Philosophy ...
and
contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...
in Baku are: *
Baku Museum of Modern Art Baku Museum of Modern Art () is a museum of modern art located in Baku, Azerbaijan. History The museum was built at the initiative of the First Lady of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva and opened on 20 March 2009. It was funded by the Heydar Aliy ...
* Heydar Aliyev Centre * Yarat Contemporary Art Space ()


Music and media

The music scene in Baku can be traced back to ancient times and villages of Baku, generally revered as the fountainhead of
meykhana Meykhana () is a distinctive Azerbaijani literary and folk rap tradition, consisting of an unaccompanied song performed by one or more people improvising on a particular subject. Meykhana is distinct from spoken word poetry in that it is perfo ...
and
mugham Mugham () or Mughamat () is one of the many classical compositions from Azerbaijan, contrasting with tasnif and ashik. It is an art form that weds classical poetry and musical improvisation in specific local modes. Mugham is a modal system. ...
in the Azerbaijan. Recently, the success of Azerbaijani performers such as
AySel Aysel is a feminine Turkish given name popular in Turkey and Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and E ...
,
Farid Mammadov Farid Mammadov (; born 30 August 1991, in Baku) is an Azerbaijani singer. He represented Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö with the song "Hold Me" and came second after Denmark. Biography Early life and career Mammadov wa ...
,
Sabina Babayeva Sabina Babayeva (; born 2 December 1979, Baku) is an Azerbaijani singer. She represented Azerbaijan in the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, held in Baku, Azerbaijan on 26 May 2012, with the song " When the Music Dies", as the 13t ...
, Safura and
Elnur Hüseynov Elnur Hüseynov (born 3 March 1987), also known as Elnur Hussein, is an Azerbaijani singer. He was the first Azerbaijan's representative to perform " Day After Day" at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 alongside Samir Javadzadeh as duo Elnur and ...
in the
Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...
has boosted the profile of Baku's music scene, prompting international attention. Following the victory of Azerbaijan's representative Eldar & Nigar at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2011 The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following the country's victory at the with the song "Satellite" by Lena. Organised by the European Broadcasting Uni ...
, Baku hosted the
Eurovision Song Contest 2012 The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following the country's victory at the with the song "Running Scared (Ell & Nikki song), Running Scared" by Ell & Nikki, El ...
. 2005 was a landmark in the development of
Azerbaijani jazz The Azerbaijani jazz () is a popular variety of jazz, widespread in Azerbaijan. It covers a broad range of styles (traditional, post-pop, fusion, free flexion) and often features a blend with traditional Azeri music. Among modern famed Azeri ...
in the city. It has been home to legendary jazz musicians like
Vagif Mustafazadeh Vagif Mustafazadeh (; March 16, 1940 – December 16, 1979), also known as Vaqif Mustafa-Zadeh, was a Soviet- Azerbaijani jazz pianist and composer, acclaimed for fusing jazz and the traditional Azerbaijani folk music, known as mugham. According ...
,
Aziza Mustafa Zadeh Aziza Mustafa Zadeh (; born December 19, 1969) is an Azerbaijani singer, pianist, and composer who plays a fusion of jazz and mugham (a traditional improvisational style of Azerbaijan) with classical and avant-garde influences. Biography Azi ...
, Rafig Babayev and Rain Sultanov. Among Baku's prominent annual fairs and festivals is
Baku International Jazz Festival The Baku International Jazz Festival is an annual jazz event founded and organized by saxophonist and Baku resident Rain Sultanov. The festival aims to showcase Azerbaijan's long-running attachment to jazz, a connection established in the count ...
, which features some of the world's most identifiable jazz names. Baku also has a thriving International Centre of Mugham, which is located in
Baku Boulevard Baku Boulevard (, also known as National Park) is a promenade established in 1909 which runs parallel to Baku's seafront. Its history goes back more than 100 years, to a time when Baku oil barons built their mansions along the Caspian Sea, Caspi ...
,
Gulustan Palace Gulustan Palace (), known as Gulustan Wedding Palace Complex during the Soviet era, is the main state convention center of the Azerbaijani government. It is located on Baku's highland, on Istiglaliyyat Street overlooking the whole city of Baku an ...
and
Buta Palace The Buta Palace is one of the principal performing arts centers and music venues of Baku. Facilities It consists of two event halls and an adjacent parking lot for 800 cars. The greater hall is a caravanserai-stylized venue, capable of accommoda ...
, one of the principal
performing arts centre Performing arts center/centre (see American and British English spelling differences, spelling differences), often abbreviated as PAC, is usually a complex housing performance spaces for various performing arts, including dance, music, and theat ...
s and
music venue A music venue is any location used for a concert or musical performance. Music venues range in size and location, from a small coffeehouse for folk music shows, an outdoor bandshell or bandstand or a concert hall to an indoor sports stadium. Ty ...
s in the city. The majority of Azerbaijan's media companies (including television, newspaper and radio, such as,
Azad Azerbaijan TV Azad Azerbaijan TV (), also known by its acronym ATV, is an Azerbaijani privately-owned national terrestrial television channel. It is owned by the Azad Azerbaijan Independent Teleradio Company. ATV began broadcasting on 25 December 2000, and is he ...
, Ictimai TV,
Lider TV Lider TV was a private television channel in Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. I ...
and Region TV) are headquartered in Baku. The films ''
The World Is Not Enough ''The World Is Not Enough'' is a 1999 spy film, the nineteenth in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 agent Jam ...
'' and ''
The Diamond Arm ''The Diamond Arm'' ( ''Brilliantovaya ruka'') is a Soviet crime comedy film made by Mosfilm and first released in 1969. The film was directed by director Leonid Gaidai and starred several famous Soviet actors, including Yuri Nikulin, Andrei Mi ...
'', among
others Others or The Others may refer to: Fictional characters * Others (''A Song of Ice and Fire''), supernatural creatures in the fictional world of George R. R. Martin's fantasy series ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' * Others (''Lost''), mysterious inh ...
, are set in the city, while ''
Amphibian Man ''Amphibian Man'' (rus. Человек-амфибия) is a science fiction adventure novel by the Soviet Russian writer Alexander Beliaev. It was published in 1928. Plot Argentinean doctor Salvator, a scientist and a maverick surgeon, gives ...
'' includes several scenes filmed in Old City. The city's radio stations include: ''Ictimai Radio'', ''Radio Antenn'', ''Burc FM'', ''Avto FM'', ''ASAN Radio'' and ''Lider FM Jazz'' Some of Baku's newspapers include the daily '' Azadliq'', ''Zaman'' (The Time), ''Bakinskiy Rabochiy'' (Baku Worker), ''
Echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...
'' and the English-language ''Baku Today''. Baku is also featured in the video game ''
Battlefield 4 ''Battlefield 4'' is a 2013 first-person shooter game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released in October and November for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, and is the sequ ...
''.


Nightlife

Many clubs that are open until dawn can be found throughout the city. Clubs with an eastern flavour provide special treats from the
cuisine of Azerbaijan Azerbaijani cuisine () is the cooking styles and dishes of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Iranian Azerbaijan. The cuisine is influenced by the country's diversity of agriculture, from abundant grasslands which historically allowed for a culture ...
along with local music. Western-style clubs target younger, more energetic crowds. Most of the
public houses A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...
and bars are located near Fountains Square and are usually open until the early hours of the morning.


Parks and gardens

Baku has large sections of greenery, either preserved by the National Government or designated as green zones. The city, however, continues to lack a green belt development as economic activity pours into the capital, resulting in massive housing projects along the suburbs.
Baku Boulevard Baku Boulevard (, also known as National Park) is a promenade established in 1909 which runs parallel to Baku's seafront. Its history goes back more than 100 years, to a time when Baku oil barons built their mansions along the Caspian Sea, Caspi ...
is a pedestrian promenade that runs parallel to Baku's seafront. The boulevard contains an amusement park,
yacht club A yacht club is a boat club specifically related to yachting. Description Yacht clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there some that have been established at a lake or riverside locations. Yacht or sailing clubs have either a mar ...
,
musical fountain A musical fountain, also known as a fairy fountain, prismatic fountain or dancing fountain, is a type of choreographed fountain that creates aesthetic designs as a form of entertainment. The displays are commonly synchronised to music and also ...
, statues and monuments. The park is popular with dog-walkers and joggers and is convenient for tourists. It is adjacent to the newly built International Centre of Mugham and the musical fountain. Other parks and gardens include Heydar Aliyev Park, Samad Vurgun Park, Narimanov Park,
Alley of Honor The Alley of Honor (, Honorary ''Allée'') is a public cemetery and memorial in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Alley includes burials of famed Azerbaijanis and Azerbaijan-affiliated expatriates, including several Presidents, scientists and artists. There ...
and the Fountains Square. The
Martyrs' Lane Martyrs' Lane or Alley of Martyrs (), formerly known as the Kirov Park, is a cemetery and memorial in Baku, Azerbaijan dedicated to those killed by the Soviet Army during Black January 1990 and in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War of 1988–1994. H ...
, formerly the Kirov Park, is dedicated to the memory of those who died during the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians until 2023, and seven surrounding districts, inhabited mostly by Azerbai ...
and also to the 137 people killed on
Black January Black January (), also known as Black Saturday or the January Massacre, was a violent crackdown on Azerbaijani nationalism and anti-Soviet sentiment in Baku on 19–20 January 1990, as part of a state of emergency during the dissolution of the ...
.


Sports

Baku hosts a
Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
race on the Baku City Circuit. The first was the 2016 European Grand Prix, with the track going around the old city. The track measures , and it has been on the Formula One calendar since its 2016 debut. The city also hosted three group games and one quarter-final of the
UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...
European Football Championship. Since 2002, Baku has hosted 36 major sporting events and selected to host the
2015 European Games The 1st European Games (), also known as the 2015 European Games or Baku 2015 (), were the inaugural edition of the European Games, an international multi-sport event for athletes representing the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the Europe ...
. Baku is also to host the 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games, fourth edition of the
Islamic Solidarity Games The Islamic Solidarity Games () is a multinational, multi-sport event. Managed jointly by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Islamic Solidarity Sports Association (ISSA), the Games involve elite athletes of the OIC competing in a ...
in 2017. Baku is also one of world's leading chess centres, having produced Grandmaster (chess), grandmasters like Teimour Radjabov, Vugar Gashimov, Garry Kasparov, Shahriyar Mammadyarov and Rauf Mammadov, as well as the arbiter Faik Hasanov. The city also annually hosts the international tournaments such as Baku Chess Grand Prix, President's Cup, Baku Open and bidding to host 42nd Chess Olympiad in 2014. First class sporting facilities were built for the indoor games, including the Palace of Hand Games and Heydar Aliyev Sports and Exhibition Complex. It hosted many sporting events, including FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships in 2007 Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships, 2007 and 2009 Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships, 2009, 2005 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, 2007 FILA Wrestling World Championships and 2010 European Wrestling Championships, 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships, Women's Challenge Cup (volleyball), 2009 Women's Challenge Cup and European Taekwondo Championships in 2007. Since 2011 the city annually hosts Women's Tennis Association, WTA tennis event called Baku Cup. The Synergy Baku Cycling Project participates in the Tour d'Azerbaïdjan a 2.2 multi-stage bicycle race on the UCI Europe Tour. Baku made a bid to host the Baku bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, 2016 Summer Olympics and Baku bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics, 2020 Summer Olympics, but failed to become a Candidate City both times. The largest sports hub in the city is Baku Olympic Stadium with 69,870 seating capacity, whose construction was completed in 2015. 2019 UEFA Europa League final, UEFA Europa League Final 2019 was played at the Baku Olympic Stadium, Olympic Stadium in Baku on 29 May 2019 between The Football Association, English sides Chelsea F.C., Chelsea and Arsenal F.C., Arsenal. The city's main football clubs is Neftchi Baku PFK, Neftçi Baku of who first has nine Premier League titles, making Neftchi the most successful Azerbaijani football club. Baku also has several football clubs in the premier and regional leagues, including AZAL PFK, AZAL and Ravan Baku FK, Ravan in Azerbaijan Premier League, Premier League. The city's second-largest stadium, Tofiq Bahramov Stadium hosts a number of domestic and international competitions and was the main sports centre of the city for a long period until the construction of Baku Olympic Stadium. In the Azerbaijan Women's Volleyball Super League, Baku is represented by Rabita Baku, Azerrail Baku, Lokomotiv Baku and Azeryol Baku.


Transport

Throughout history, the transport system of Baku used the now-defunct horsecars, trams and narrow gauge railways. , 1,000 Hackney carriage, black cabs are ordered by Baku Taxi Company, and as part of a programme originally announced by the Transport Ministry of Azerbaijan, there is a plan to introduce London cabs into Baku. The move was part of £16 million agreement between Manganese Bronze subsidiary London Taxis International, LTI Limited and Baku Taxi Company. Local rail transport includes the Baku Funicular and the Baku Metro, a rapid-transit system notable for its art, murals, mosaics and ornate chandeliers. Baku Metro was opened in November 1967 and includes 3 lines and 25 stations at present; 170 million people used Baku Metro over the past five years. In 2008, the Chief of Baku Metro, Taghi Ahmadov, announced plans to construct 41 new stations over the next 17 years. These will serve the new Baku International Bus Terminal, bus complex as well as the international airport. In 2019, the Baku suburban railway opened. BakuCard is a single Smart Card for payment on all types of city transport. The intercity buses and metro use this type of card-based fare-payment system. Baku Railway Station is the terminus for national and international rail links to the city. The Kars–Tbilisi–Baku railway, which directly connects Turkey, Georgia and
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...
, began to be constructed in 2007 and opened in 2017. The completed branch will connect Baku with Tbilisi in Georgia, and from there trains will continue to Akhalkalaki, and Kars in Turkey. Sea transport is vital for Baku, as the city is practically surrounded by the
Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...
to the east. Shipping services operate regularly from Baku across the Caspian Sea to Türkmenbaşy, Turkmenistan, Turkmenbashi (formerly Krasnovodsk) in Turkmenistan and to Bandar-e Anzali, Bandar Anzali and Nowshahr, Bandar Nowshar in Iran. The commuter ferries, along with the high-speed catamaran ''Seabus'' (''Deniz Avtobusu''), also form the main connection between the city and the Absheron peninsula. Baku Port was founded in 1902 and claims to be the largest Caspian Sea port. It has six facilities: the main cargo terminal, the container terminal, the ferry terminal, the oil terminal, the passenger terminal and the port fleet terminal. The port's throughput capacity reaches 15 million tonnes of liquid bulk and up to 10 million tons of dry cargoes. In 2010, the Baku International Sea Trade Port began to be reconstructed. The construction was planned to take place in three stages and to be completed by 2016. The estimated costs were US$400 million. From April to November, Baku Port is accessible to ships loading cargoes for direct voyages from Western European and Mediterranean ports. The State Road M-1 and the European route E60 are the two main motorway connections between Europe and Azerbaijan. The motorway network around Baku is well-developed and is constantly being extended. The Heydar Aliyev International Airport is the only commercial airport serving Baku. The new Baku Cargo Terminal was officially opened in March 2005. It was constructed to be a major cargo hub in the Commonwealth of Independent States, CIS countries, and is actually now one of the biggest and most technically advanced in the region. There are also several smaller military airbases near Baku, such as Baku Kala Air Base, intended for private aircraft, helicopters and charters.


Education

* Baku Oxford School, international school


Secondary schools

* Elite Gymnasium


Health care

According to the Ministry of Healthcare, healthcare facilities in Baku are "highly developed compared with the regions and doctors are waiting to work there. The regions, meanwhile, lack both doctors and clinics providing specialized medical treatment." Resulting in citizens travelling for many hours to Baku to receive adequate medical treatment.


Notable residents

File:Landau.jpg, Physicist Lev Landau, Baku State University student, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1962 File:Stamps of Azerbaijan, 2007-813.jpg, Kerim Kerimov, one of the founders of the Soviet space program File:Kasparov-34.jpg, Garry Kasparov, chess International Grandmaster, grandmaster, former World Chess Champion File:Mikayil Mushfig.jpg, Mikayil Mushfig, Bakuvian poet and victim of the Great Purge, Stalinist purges File:Tofiq Bahramov.jpg, Tofiq Bahramov, a Soviet Union, Soviet footballer and Referee (association football), football referee from
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...
File:Вагит Алекперов.jpg, Vagit Alekperov, President of the leading Russian oil company LUKOIL File:Muslim Magomaev.jpg, Muslim Magomayev (musician), Muslim Magomayev, singer File:RIAN archive 438589 Mstislav Rostropovich.jpg, Mstislav Rostropovich, Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance, Grammy Award–winning cellist File:Gusman Yliy.jpg, Yuli Gusman, film director and actor, founder and CEO of the Nika Award File:Natalla Arsieńnieva1927.jpg, Natallia Arsiennieva, Belarusian playwright, poet and translator File:Владимир Меньшов 2018 (cropped) (cropped).jpg, Vladimir Menshov, Soviet and Russian actor and film director File:Ələkbər Məmmədov.jpg, Alakbar Mammadov, Soviet footballer, four-time champion player in the Soviet Top League File:Matvej Skobelev.jpg, Matvey Skobelev, Russian revolutionary and politician


International relations


Twin towns and sister cities

Baku is twin towns and sister cities, twinned with:[in chronology, chronological order]


Partner cities

* Mainz, Germany *
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, France * Vienna, Austria * Tbilisi, Georgia * Astana, Kazakhstan * Minsk, Belarus * Moscow, Russia * Volgograd, Russia * Kizlyar, Russia * Tashkent, Uzbekistan * Chengdu, China


See also

*
Baku Gradonachalstvo The Baku ''gradonachalstvo'' was a municipal district ('' gradonachalstvo'') based around the city of Baku in the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. The Baku ''gradonachalstvo'' was formed in 1906 on the territory of the Baku uezd of the ...
* Congress of the Peoples of the East, 1920 Baku Congress * Alexander III visit to Baku * Administrative divisions of Azerbaijan * List of cities in Azerbaijan * Mingachevir * Nakhchivan (city), Nakhchivan * Sumqayit, Sumgait


Notes


References


External links

*
Baku's profile at the Organization of World Heritage Cities website

UNESCO World Heritage Site listing Walled City of Baku
*
Absheron's Museum of History and Country Studies sheds light on the past
on YouTube (in Azerbaijani) {{Authority control Baku, Capitals in Asia Capitals in Europe Cities and towns in Azerbaijan Populated coastal places in Azerbaijan Districts of Azerbaijan Port cities in Azerbaijan Port cities and towns of the Caspian Sea World Heritage Sites in Azerbaijan Weather extremes of Earth Populated places along the Silk Road