Ázerbájdžán / Azerbaijan
Author: Lenka Klugerová, Vít Polák
Published: 1 November 2022
Azerbaijan – a land unknown to many and, for some of us, the very first Muslim country we have ever had the honour to visit. When I first mentioned at home that I wanted to venture to this corner of the world, every member of my family – and indeed my wider circle – asked whether I had completely lost my mind. It therefore took a little time, armed with photos, articles and authentic tales, to convince my nearest and dearest that this was not a suicidal undertaking. Sadly, many people still cling to the entrenched idea that any country whose name ends in “-stan” must be a war zone racked by conflict, poverty and social unrest. So, dear readers, allow me to share our experiences and insights from this enchanting journey. Azerbaijan is anything but boring – and certainly no desert!
We looked forward to visiting Azerbaijan immensely. Most of us had only a sketchy notion of what lay ahead. Some had previously travelled to Armenia, which, culturally speaking, differs in many respects. It was precisely Azerbaijani culture and the presence of national minorities that drew us to this state on the border between Europe and Asia. What kind of students – what kind of devotees of cultural studies – would we be if we let such an opportunity slip? None of it, however, would have happened without the passion and enthusiasm of Associate Professor Petr Kokaisl, who planned this little expedition with our help. Throughout the trip he drew on his expertise in the post-Soviet world and, thanks to his Russian – still an indispensable skill for travellers in these parts – he provided us with all manner of useful and fascinating information. For that he has our heartfelt thanks.
To set the mood we begin our tale with a glass of fine Azerbaijani wine, trying in our minds to return to the moment our journey began.
On the evening of 24 April we flew out of Prague as a complete group. After the initial “birth pains” – obtaining an Azerbaijani visa and squeezing twelve days’ worth of kit into a rucksack measuring 40 × 30 × 20 cm – we succeeded in our mission and landed in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, in the small hours local time. During passport control we quickly realised that an Armenian stamp does not exactly inspire warm feelings among the officials. Fortunately, only about half of our party bore this particular “brand”.
Figure 1. Off on an adventure
Baku
Baku boasts many splendid sights, such as the Maiden Tower. This landmark is so iconic that it even graces postage stamps and the manat, Azerbaijan’s national currency.
Figure 2. Postage stamps depicting the Maiden Tower (1922, 1990, 1992)
The old city lures visitors with historic buildings, minarets and mosques; the street markets entice them with the aroma of spices, the taste of traditional tea and the smoke of water pipes. Passing merchants selling Persian carpets, we almost felt we were in a Persian fairy-tale – a feeling that vanished as quickly as it came when we saw the prices. Baku is a city of stark contrasts: impoverished outskirts and a wealthy, ultra-modern centre.
Figure 3. The Maiden Tower in Baku
Figure 4. A Persian-carpet shop in Baku’s old town
Rising above the traditional alleyways of the old city stand the glass-clad Flame Towers, now a dominant feature of the skyline. Not even the fact that at least two of the three towers are unusable owing to structural problems detracts from the impression. Also noteworthy are the flower-shaped shopping centre (“Baku Flower”) and the Ferris wheel, which offers – dizziness aside – a magnificent view of the city and the Caspian shore. A rarity found nowhere else is the burning “mountain” of Yanardag. I put “mountain” in quotation marks deliberately, for the site looks anything but mountainous. Judge for yourselves.
Figures 5–6. The Flame Towers and a mosque in Baku; the burning “mountain” of Yanardag
Figure 7. View of Baku’s modern centre
While exploring the city one cannot miss the memorial in the Alley of Martyrs, built to commemorate the Soviet military intervention of 1990. Every 20 January, inhabitants mark this tragic event – known as “Black January”.
Figure 8. The eternal flame in the Alley of Martyrs
From the capital we moved on to Qobustan province, where we visited the mud volcanoes created by gas escaping from underground oil deposits. Another highlight was the rocky heights above the town, home to petroglyphs said to be up to 15,000 years old. Later that day we sampled local specialities – gutab[1], dolma[2], kebab, duşbara[3] and the sweet pastry dessert katmer with honey and pistachios.
Figures 9–10. Petroglyphs in Qobustan; mud volcanoes
Agdam
The second day took us, under the auspices of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Education and with substantial help from the Czech Embassy in Baku (special thanks to Mr Daniel Putík), to Agdam – the so-called “Hiroshima of the Caucasus”. The deserted ruins recall the town’s recent history: in 1993 Armenian forces attacked during the first Nagorno-Karabakh war, expelling the Azerbaijani population and laying waste to the settlement. The most intact remnants are the ruins of the royal palace and the mosque – used by Armenians during the conflict to keep pigs, a pointed insult to Muslims, for whom pork is unclean.
Figure 11. Agdam Mosque
Figure 12. Fragments of Agdam’s former buildings (the old opera house)
Fascinated yet full of mixed feelings, we left this shattered place, still bearing the scars of bloody fighting in which soldiers and innocent civilians alike lost their lives.
Jewish Azerbaijan
Over the following days we travelled to the north-east, to Quba and its old quarter, Red Settlement (Krasnaya Sloboda). Founded some 200 years ago by Jews who emigrated from former Persia and today’s Iraq, the quarter retains elements of the Persian language, Farsi[4], still spoken by a handful of elders. Original inhabitants are now rare; many Quba Jews live chiefly in Russia, returning only to their summer houses, adorned with Jewish architectural features.
Figure 13. A house with Jewish architectural elements
In Quba we visited a synagogue, the Jewish cemetery and the men’s and women’s mikveh baths used for ritual purification[5]. The Jewish museum, telling the stories of the community, is well worth a mention. We rounded off this culturally rich tour with an excellent Jewish-style meal: shredded chicken with baked chestnuts, eggs and cheese, all seasoned with curry and turmeric, accompanied by rice with fresh herbs.
Figure 14. Interior of one of the synagogues
Figure 15. Old section of the Jewish cemetery
Figure 16. Entrance to the Jewish museum
Figure 17. Jewish hospitality
Khinalug and the Khinalug People
Having eaten and indulged almost continuously (a pleasant change from our previous Armenian expedition, where hunger was the default), we set off for genuine mountain tourism. True, we travelled the whole way by bus, and our chief concern was the state and temperature of the brake discs. Our destination was the mountain village of Khinalug / Xinaliq[6], home for 5,000 years to a fascinating ethnic group with its own script and a Persian-Azeri culture and history. In the “high-altitude general store” we tasted traditional black tea. When a visit to the Zoroastrian temple proved impossible without official permission, we were offered a ride to mountain waterfalls. The promised “off-road vehicle” turned out to be the back of a ramshackle lorry – so on went the raincoats and off we rattled to the falls.
Figures 18–19. Our charming transport to the waterfalls; the road itself
Figures 20–21. The blend of Islam and Persian Zoroastrianism can be seen on a beam in the local mosque; view of the Caucasus
Our magical mountain visit over, we returned to the hotel to plan the days ahead. After such exertion and adrenaline we soon rediscovered our appetite, and that very evening we were tipped off about a region producing the finest Azerbaijani wine. Our minds were made up: we were heading for İvanovka!
İvanovka
Besides culinary delights, this village offers a fascinating ethnic and national mix of Azeris, Russians and Ukrainians. From a religious-cultural perspective it is notable for its Old Believers, a branch of Orthodoxy that arrived with Russians some 250 years ago; Russian Baptists also live here.
En route to other corners of the country we stopped high in the mountains at the village of Lahic, famed for its coppersmiths. We visited workshops where ornate copper teapots are fashioned, stocking up on tea, saffron and other spices that fill the streets with fragrance.
Figure 22. The mountain village of Lahic, renowned for copperware
Figure 23. Street market in Lahic
Figure 24. Surroundings of İvanovka
We ended our stay in İvanovka enjoying the company of an Azeri-Iranian couple with a remarkable life story – they met while emigrating in the USA. Our hosts treated us to superb wine from their small vineyard and homemade dairy products. Alas, all good things end, and with rosy cheeks we bade a reluctant farewell, having savoured once more not only fine food and drink but also the warmth and hospitality of the local people.
Figure 25. Homemade wine – the owner brought the know-how back from the USA
Christian Azerbaijan
The next day we headed to the village of Lekit, home to the oldest Christian churches in the Caucasus. According to local tradition, they were built by the Albanian Apostolic Church, considered the oldest Christian branch in the region.
Figure 26. Remains of the Albanian churches
Figure 27. Lekit
We continued through picturesque mountain terrain to a Lezgin village. Lezgins, who see themselves as descendants of Caucasian Albania, live in high-altitude areas of northern Azerbaijan and Dagestan. Unlike the majority Shiite population, they practise Sunni Islam. Their own language and script came as no surprise after days of encountering diverse minorities. We shared tea and traditional Azerbaijani lavash bread, baked in a circular tandyr oven.
Figure 28. Lavash
Figure 29. View of the Lezgin village in the mountains
On the road to Šeki, where we had arranged accommodation, one more sacred building caught our eye: the church in Kiš, reputedly founded in the year 50 by Saint Bartholomew, one of the Twelve Apostles.
Figure 30. Church said to have been founded in 50 AD by St Bartholomew
The following day continued our religious explorations. We visited the town of Nic and toured a Christian church reputedly dating from the first century. The resident priest ministers to the Udi community, one of the few Christian cultures in Azerbaijan. Unsurprisingly, he is the only priest in the country and therefore had to be ordained by a Ukrainian bishop. Despite living in an overwhelmingly Islamic environment, the Udis live peacefully with their Muslim neighbours – a harmony symbolised by the generous funding that Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev allocated in the 1990s for the church’s restoration, a gesture still gratefully remembered.
Figure 31. Udi church, said to have been founded by one of the Seventy Disciples, Elisha
Southern Azerbaijan
As our expedition drew to a close, we headed south towards the Iranian border.
En route we stopped at the Caspian National Park and the relatively new island of Kür Dili. Covering 43 km², it is Azerbaijan’s largest island. Once linked to the mainland by a narrow spit, it hosted two villages of about 3,000 people in Soviet times, with vineyards, pomegranate orchards and livestock farms. Rising Caspian waters destroyed the road in 1981, turning the peninsula into an island. As recently as 2016 four Azeri families remained, but the last inhabitant died in 2020. Today feral horses and cattle – descendants of the former kolkhoz stock – roam the island.
Figure 32. Kür Dili
The climate of southern Azerbaijan is more humid and stable, which is why tea is grown on plantations near the town of Lankaran, in the village of Istisu. For us, this was the perfect chance to buy a small packet – one that would finally squeeze into our hopelessly overstuffed bags.
Figure 33. Tea plantations
This region is home to the Talysh, who are ethnically and culturally closer to Iranians than to Azeris. We had the honour of sharing a traditi