Miracle of flame

In ancient times, Baku was a wonder of the eastern world. Flames spouted from bare rock where oil and gas deposits lurked, giving the country its name: Azerbaijan, land of fire. For almost a thousand years Baku was a holy site, held sacred by the Zoroastrian fire-worshippers of Persia and India, and a fire-temple still stands on the edge of the city, lit by its perpetual flame. The state religion is now Islam, but Baku’s citizens have not forgotten their origins, and the city’s heraldic symbol remains three tongues of flame on a bare ground.

Bridge between the continents

Islam came to Baku in the seventh century, and brought the city into an international trading empire. From the far reaches of India, camel trains wound their way up along the Indus River and over the passes of Afghanistan and Iran, to come into the green valleys of the Caucasus. Baku, with its cool breezes and commanding position, was their bridge to the north, and the city grew rich on the international trade in silk and spices. The medieval stone caravanserais where Moghul merchants once tethered their camels and bargained over their wares still stand in the Old Town, now converted into restaurants and boutiques, and medieval walls still shade quiet squares.

Boom town

But the city’s fortune was made in the nineteenth century, when industrialists such as the Rothschilds and the Nobel brothers launched the large-scale extraction of oil on the very edge of the city. Fortunes were made and dynasties founded on the rich gush of oil, and the immense buildings of Baku’s nineteenth-century boom are a testament to the wealth and magnificence of the oil barons. The original wells still stand a few miles beyond the town, a forest of derricks and nodding pumps, while further out to sea giant oil rigs show where a new generation of entrepreneurs are making their own fortunes. Baku is ringed with clifftop villas, the proud homes of the city’s new elite, and the oil boom that started 150 years ago shows no signs of abating.

Eternal face

But behind the panache of the oil boom, Baku remains what it has always been: port and gateway, bridge between the continents, the meeting-point of Europe and Asia. The rain of the Caucasus and the sun of the south make this a city of fruits and flowers, warm in winter, cool in summer, always the same and yet always surprising. Independent once more after the indignities of Soviet rule, and once more aware of its own importance to both East and West, Baku has made its mark firmly on the international scene. Europe and Asia are now making their way to its door again, and the city which has been a trading point for two thousand years is looking to the future with anticipation.