PUBLISHED IN UNESCO’S JOURNAL
Article of the famous Azerbaijani scientist-archeologist Jafar Giyasi and Rizvan Bayramov “The Baku fortress” on ancient architectural monuments of Baku and Icharishahar was published in the 31st issue of the journal for June.
Stressing that Baku has an ancient history, the authors write: “Icharishahar circled by fortress walls is a compound part of the capital of the Azerbaijan Republic. The Baku Fortress has 21.5 hectares of area in the Southern part of the Absheron peninsula. Historical and archeological researches conducted here testify that history of the town goes back of 2 thousand years.
Baku at the beginning of the 1st century was a small port town on the shore of the Caspian Sea.”
Then, the article tells of the “Atashgah” temple, on the etymology of this word, on worship to the fire and Zoroastrism and noted that once Isharishahar had such a temple. The article says that Baku developing in the period of VI -XVI centuries, changed into a large city of strategic destination, was the capital of the Shirvanshah state. It is on the Great Silk Road and during the rule of Sefevids in the XVI century, was in the center of social and political events, as one of the main cities of the country.
After a historic excursus, the authors describe in details numerous monuments of the city, telling of the history of their creation, noting that Icharishahar, the Maiden Tower, Shirvanshah Palace, the fortress walls and other monuments preserve rich traditions of the Eastern architectural school, they stress that in late XIX - early XX century the buildings were constructed in the style of Western architecture and merging with the samples of Eastern architecture composed a special ensemble.
The authors remind that in connection with the fact that the monuments are national and historical heritage of Azerbaijani people, are protected and guarded, Icharishahar was included to the UNESCO list of cultural heritage of the world and on Decree of the President of Azerbaijan, dated 17 February 2003, it was declared a reserve. It was stressed that conduction of any construction works on its territory is forbidden.
The author of the pictures of Icharishahar published in the journal is the French photographer T. Vivie.
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