Embark on a captivating walking tour of Baku to uncover the fascinating history of oil barons and witness the city’s transformation. Explore the social, cultural, and political aspects of everyday life, from the late 19th century to modern times.
- Maiden Tower - The Maiden Tower is a Baku landmark, a much loved symbol of the city and of Azerbaijan. It looms dark and enigmatic, looking out to sea from the southern edge of Baku´s old, walled city, the Icheri Sheher. The origins of the tower are shrouded in mystery - no-one knows for certain when it was built or what it was built for or even how it acquired its name Maiden Tower (Qiz qalasi). No written sources survive that record its construction or original function.
Baku historian Sara Ashurbayli calculated that the tower must have been built in the 4th to 6th centuries AD. This was because of the tower’s unusual construction, the difference between the stone used in the tower and the stone of the medieval city surrounding it and the various legends about the Maiden Tower.
Another group of researchers think that the tower was built in the 11th century. The reason is the inscription 14 metres high on the south wall of the tower which reads Qubbeye Masud ibn Davud in old Arabic script. Epigraphist Mashadikhanim Nemat studied the inscription and explained the word qübbe as qülle or tower, so Masud ibn Davud would have been the tower’s architect. The architect of the 14th century Mardakan Tower, Abdulmajid ibn Masud, is thought to be his descendant.
However, unlike the Mardakan Tower inscription and another inscription on Sabayil Tower in Baku bay, the Maiden Tower tablet does not include the words Amale ustad or Amale memar (constructor or architect), before Qubbeye Masud ibn Davud. Therefore, the inscription does not necessarily refer to the tower’s architect. The location of the inscription stone, high up the tower, implies that it was placed there accidentally or at least not by the design of the architect. Inscriptions are usually positioned so that they can be read by passers-by, but the Maiden Tower inscription is too high to be seen easily.
Historian Bretanitskiy merges both views and say that the tower was built in two stages: in the 5th to 6th centuries and the 12th century. Veliyev links the history of the tower with Zoroastrianism and fire-worship, while Azerbaijani poet Samad Vurgun wrote in his 1960s Epos of Baku that the tower was built 800 years ago.
- Tour ends with a complimentary local wine or hot chocolate at Coffee Moffie
- Bottled water included
This is a walking tour to discover the reflection of Baku’s past and hear about oil barons of the first
oil boom era and their quest for personal glory and fame. The tour offers insider’s guide to urban exploration about social, cultural, political aspect of every-day life in Baku with background of stories based on real life of oil barons from late 19th and early 20th century as well as soviet and modern times.
The tour highlights how oil changed Baku as as the new generation of the first era of oil boom
assumed their social responsibility for a change in an oriental conventional Muslim society. You will
hear stories about Azerbaijan’s dilemma of East vs. West, oil barons’ hunger for personal glory and
fame, Influence of Polish architects, change and continuity through times under imperial Russia,
Soviet and Independent Azerbaijan.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
