Azerbaijan starts work on proclaiming Ateshgah Temple UNESCO's World Heritage Site

State Tourism Agency of Azerbaijan started relevant work on including the Ateshgah Temple monument in UNESCO's World Heritage List, Report informs.

A nomination document will be prepared for this purpose.

Currently, the Ateshgah Temple is on UNESCO's tentative list. In total, Azerbaijan has five sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List and ten sites on the tentative list.

The Ateshgah Temple is located on the Absheron Peninsula, near the village of Surakhani in the Surakhani district. The temple was used as a place of worship by Zoroastrians, Hindus, and Sikhs in different periods. This temple, meaning House of Fire or Place of Fire, was built in the 17th and 18th centuries on the site of eternal flames.

According to the decree of the Azerbaijani President, an open-air museum has been created around the complex, and the complex has been declared a State Historical-Architectural Reserve. On average, 145,000 people visit the museum annually.

In 1998, Ateshgah was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site candidate list.