Icherisheher: A Living Museum That Will Take You Some Steps Back in Time

Talking about cultures, Baku is one example of how different influence could lead to a varied cultural heritage. It is Azerbaijan’s most eastern point and capital city that is situated on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. As one of the cities that lies on the Great Silk Road, Baku was one busy area for it became the hub between the western and the eastern world. The fact that Baku is located 28 meters below sea level makes it the lowest lying capital city in the world.

Situated at the Crossroad of Europe and Asia, throughout its development, Baku gained a lot of influences from both Europe and Asia. No wonder that it possesses a wide range of variety of cultures. Baku, The City of Winds, is one of the centers of Azerbaijan’s culture. As if it were a sea clam, Baku stores its precious hidden pearls: myriads of hidden cultures. One thing that is very interesting from Baku is how two places that seem to come from two different centuries coexisted, in one city. It feels like we are exposed with two different worlds and timelines in just one period of time. With just a few steps, we can travel back in time to thousands of years ago.

Baku is known to be an amazing oil-rich city. It has implemented a successful strategy of advancing its oil and gas industry as the leading driver of the economy. Oil has been used as a prominent tool in its economic life with its first oil boom happened in the late 1800s. Baku was, and still is, very rich with oil that it became the frontrunner in the oil and gas industry and once supplied more than half of the world's oil needs in its first bloom. During the Russian Empire, Baku was the main oil supplier, handing over 97.7% of Russia’s oil in 1890 and half the world’s output in 1901.

Thanks to this success bloom, the oil and gas production became one of the backbones of Baku's economy. Great wealth and modernization hit Baku which then contributed to the massive growth of the city. The population number grew exponentially, at a faster rate than any other cities. This population growth was also followed by the growth of new constructions. A new 'modern and tech-savvy’ city began to emerge around in the Western European style along with the city’s development. This was when the city was split into two inversely proportional yet somehow harmonious sections: The Inner City or İçərişəhər in Azerbaijani and The Outer City or Bayır Şəhər in Azerbaijani.

Those two sections are separated by fortress wall that encircles the inner part of the city, or the Icherisheher, which is also why the inner city is called The Walled City of Baku. Surrounded by blocks of cobble-stoned walls dated back to the middle ages, this Inner City seems to be detached from the modern part of Baku, which is the Outer City. Modernity that goes hand in hand with ancientness has always been Baku’s identity. Different from its surrounding area, Icherisheher survived the modernization and remained being a ‘traditional’ area coexisting with the surrounding modern city. The past is being preserved here in such a way that it feels like we are taken back in time through a time machine. Despite all the differences, instead of looking unbalanced, all together they form a perfect and harmonious uniformity.

References :

http://www.unesco.org
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/azerbaijan/overview