Maiden's Tower

About Maiden's Tower

12th-century monument in the Old City, Baku, Azerbaijan

The Maiden Tower (Qız Qalası) is Baku's most distinguished landmark and one of Azerbaijan's national emblems, featured on its banknotes and official letterheads: a cylindrical eight-storey tower 29.5 metres high and 16.5 metres across at the base, standing on solid rock at the edge of the Old City near the shore. It was built, like most of the Old City, by the Shirvanshahs and is usually dated to the 12th century, though some believe its foundations are centuries older, and theories about its original purpose abound: a fire beacon, a defensive fortification, an astronomical observatory or a Zoroastrian temple. Its massive stone buttress faces east towards the sunrise at the equinoxes, while the entrance faces south-east. Together with the Palace of the Shirvanshahs and the walls of the Old City it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2001. The tower now houses a museum that tells the story of Baku's development through its floors with interactive displays, and a gift shop; from the roof the view takes in the alleys and minarets of the Old City, the Baku Boulevard, the Isa bek Hajinski House and a wide vista of Baku Bay, although a glass barrier keeps visitors back from the edge. Many legends surround the tower, including that of the maiden who threw herself from it, which inspired the ballet Maiden Tower composed by Afrasiyab Badalbeyli in 1940. The land on which it stands emerged as the Caspian shoreline receded and was developed between the 9th and 15th centuries, when the Old City walls, the palace and the tower's huge bastion were built.

Where:

Baku, Azerbaijan