Baku, September 28, AZERTAC

Participants of the Baku hosting World Chess Cup 2015 have visited the Gala Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum Complex and Temple of Ateshgah.

The complex, created at the initiative of President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, UNESCO and ISESCO Goodwill ambassador Mehriban Aliyeva, was designed to preserve historic past of Azerbaijan and make the country one of the world`s most attractive tourism centers.

The complex was mounted in the area of the Gala History-Ethnography State Preserve created here as early as 1988. Covering an area of 156 hectares, the preserve contains burial mounds, crypts, dwelling houses as well as 4 storage pools, ruins of an ancient palace, 5 mosques and 3 bath-houses dating back to a period between 3rd Millennium BC and 20th century.

The Museum Complex itself covers an area of 2 hectares and stores rock paintings, ceramics, jewelry, weapons and other unique exhibits dating back to a period from 3rd and 2nd millennium BC and the Middle Ages.

The participants toured the complex and were told that Gala Antique Museum had been created in the preserve on the initiative of Heydar Aliyev Foundation.

They also were informed on the Gala Monumental Complex.

The participants then got acquainted with the Temple of Ateshgah in outskirt of Baku, 20 kilometers east of the Center.

They were informed that in the territory of Azerbaijan there is a set of monuments of history, religious temples which testify to antiquity of the country. One of them is the Temple of Ateshgah, located in Surakhani District of Baku. The state historical-architectural reserve, Temple of Ateshgah, built over temple ruins of worshippers, going back to XVII-XVIII centuries and now included in the list of the World Heritage of UNESCO, takes a special place among material-cultural monuments of Azerbaijan. The reserve, along with studying of history of Azerbaijan, has great value also from the point of view of tourism development in the Republic.

The Temple has been visited by numerous famous people, in particular, travelers, foreign writers, scholars. It was declared a state historical-architectural reserve by decree of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on 19 December 2007. The President of Azerbaijan allocated 1 million AZN for protection of the "Ateshgah Temple" preserve.