Fortress of Baku

Baku Fortress (Azerbaijani: Bakı Qalası, Persian: قلعه باکو) is a medieval building in Baku, Azerbaijan, the largest of Absheron fortresses. The fortress consists of the Icheri Sheher and the walls and towers surrounding it, and it was included by UNESCO into the World Cultural Heritage List in 2000.

It was built in about 1138–1139 on the order of the Iranian Shirvanshah Manuchohr III (1120–1149).

Based on traveler's illustrations and photos of the 19th century, the fortress consisted of a double wall. The first wall was built by the Shirvanshah III Manuchohr, and the second wall was built during the time of Shirvanshah Akhsitan I.

However, the second fortress walls were destroyed during the reign of Russia in Azerbaijan. The first fortress wall still remains. Baku Fortress has two gates. One of them opened to the Caspian Sea and the other to land.

The city walls, which had a height of 8–12 meters and a width of 3.5 meters, provided for Baku's security. In the Middle Ages, the fortress walls were 1500 meters long and now the walls are 500 meters long.

In the northern part of the fortress, there is the main tower - quadrangular castle. This fortress is called "armory" in the nation's etiology.

The peculiarity of the armory is that, despite being a defensive unit, builders have strengthened the wall by raising it in the center of the fortress wall, not in the center of the city.

Text adapted from “Baku Fortress Wall” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Fortress of Baku ranks #2,298 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #5 of the 38 mapped in Azerbaijan. Founded 1101, it is older than 86% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 544 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,400 times in the last 60 days, more than 57% of the atlas. 4 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Baku, 1 km away. See how Azerbaijan compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗