CULTURE
Largest village in Gabala district - Nij
Baku, March 5, AZERTAC
Located just over 40 kilometres south-west of Gabala district, Nij, the largest village in the district, is home to the largest population of Udi people anywhere in the world. Udis are a Christian people directly descended from one of the main tribes living in Caucasian Albanian, an ancient state existing across much of today’s Azerbaijan from about 3BC to 8AD. In fact, they still speak an endangered language that is essentially the same as that of the ancient Albanians.
Well-groomed, with beautiful houses and large gardens, the village of Nij is famous for its abundantly fruitful gardens. Fruits and nuts are grown here, and the crops are mostly for sale.
The village has an ethnographic museum, five secondary schools.
The village consists of several blocks: "Chotari", "Agdalakki", "Goja Beyim", etc., some of which preserved the ancient Albanian churches. One of them - the Chotari church of the 17th century, which is the pride of the villagers, is still working today.
In the village of Nij there is also an ancient cemetery of the 16th-17th centuries. On the most ancient tombs there are river boulders without any inscriptions. Approximately from the 19th century preserved stones containing texts and drawings. All inscriptions are made in Udin language.