CNN Travel published report on architecture of Baku

Baku. 26 May. REPORT.AZ/ The website of American CNN Travel published a report on the architecture of Baku.

Report informs citing the CNN, the report says that until its oil boom of about 150 years ago, the city of Baku didn't really stretch beyond the walls of its old 12th-century fortress.

But stand today atop the 15th-century Shirvanshahs' Palace, a popular viewpoint overlooking Azerbaijan's capital, and the dramatic expansion fueled by black gold becomes apparent.

"The first street that appeared outside the [old] city wall in full was Istiglaliyyat," says Gani Nasirov, founder of Baku Original Walking Free Tour, while strolling along this avenue which runs along the old walls.

At its western end are two pastel-colored buildings -- the Renaissance-style State Philharmonic Hall, modeled on the Casino de Monte-Carlo, and the pale-pink mansion of the Sadikhov brothers, which had Baku's first electric lift, moving at a very leisurely 70 centimeters per second.

From the late 1880s a small circle of wealthy oil barons -- local men such as Musa Naghiyev, Shamsi Asadullayev and Zeynalabdin Taghiyev, as well as foreigners like the Rothschilds and the Nobel brothers -- started commissioning mansions and public buildings.

In the space of just 15 to 20 years a new urban layer appeared just outside the old Muslim fortress. Mixing everything from Gothic and baroque to neo-classical and oriental, these eclectic buildings somehow found an overall harmony, giving Baku the reputation of the "Paris of the Caucasus".

Speaking about the architecture of the 21st century, the article CNN cites examples of modern architecture such as Heydar Aliyev Center, Carpet Museum and Flame Towers.

This has led some to dub Baku the "Caspian Dubai," but that's actually quite far from the truth.

The Azerbaijani capital is much more -- a city of love and legends, a cultural melting pot where East mingles West -- and nowhere can you see this better than in the architecture of the oil-boom.