Architecture of Baku

In itself, Baku contains a wide variety of styles, progressing through Masud Ibn Davud's 12th century Maiden Tower and the educational institutions and buildings of the Russian Imperial era.

The Martyrs' Lane provides views of the surrounding area whilst commemorating the victims of Black January and Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

[3] In December 2000, the Old City of Baku, including the Palace of the Shirvanshahs and Maiden Tower, became the first location in Azerbaijan to be classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

[5] Local oil industrialists had the opportunity to travel, particularly to Europe, where they came back with ideas of the European architectural styles, and had both the desire and the capital to recreate them.

[9] Contemporaries would comment on how dirty this district was, with the black oil smoke that filled the air giving the area its name.

[11] What had started as an oil boom in Baku soon turned to a construction one with the quick and massive influx of capital to the city.

"[15] They would model the area after the great European cities of the time, with wide canopied boulevards, a seaside esplanade, monumental civic buildings, and all the new technologies in communication and transportation.

[16][6] The oil barons competed with each other to donate the most lavish and monumental civic buildings, but the initial construction was spearheaded by Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev (1823?-1924), one of the most philanthropic of the industrialists.

[5][6] Soon more of the wealthy industrialists followed and competed in a philanthropic battle of donating towards the development of the city, such as Musa Naghiyev and Shamsi Asadullaev.

[18] Construction of buildings in Baku remained largely using the limestone available locally, with other materials easily brought down the Volga and through the city port.

[18] They imported architects as well as style preferences from their travels to Europe, and sought to emulate the grand urban palaces they saw for themselves in Baku.

[5][19][20] It started as an importing of purely Western styles, in some cases an almost exact copy, created from modified plans of a European palace.

One can mention the names of Masud ibn Davud, who designed Maiden Tower, his son Abdul-Majid Masud oglu, the author of the project of Sabayil Castle and Round Castle in Mardakan, Mahmud ibn Sa'd, who built Bibi-Heybat Mosque, Nardaran Fortress and Molla Ahmad Mosque in Baku's Old City, etc.

These included a number of high-profile designers, such as Freidun Aghalyan, Zivar bey Ahmadbeyov, Nikolai Bayev, Mammad Hasan Hajinski, and Hovhannes Katchaznouni.