Absheron

ATESHGA FIRE TEMPLE

The Ateshgah fire-worshipping temple, located on the Absheron Peninsula on the outskirts of Surakhani village, 30 km from the centre of Baku, was a shrine at different times for Zoroastrians, Hindus and Sikhs. The current buildings at the temple complex date back to the 17th century and consist of a pentagonal complex with an open courtyard in the middle of which is a temple altar that served as a place of pilgrimage for Indian fire-worshippers. Currently the complex functions as a well-designed museum and is often combined with a trip to nearby Yanardagh, the Burning Mountain, to discover more of Azerbaijan’s fire legacy.

However, the history of the Temple is even longer. From times immemorial this was the holy place of Zoroastrians- fire worshippers (approximately beginning of our era). They attributed mystical significance to the inextinguishable fire and came there to worship the relic. In the mid-19th century due to the movement of the surface the natural gas yield ceased. Pilgrims interpreted it as the punishment from the gods and left. Ateshgah as a place of worship existed until 1880. Today this ancient Zoroastrian temple has been opened for tourists attracting them with artificial fires.

Get a chance to visit the Fire Temple Baku, Zoroastrian Ateshgah Baku and observe the traces of the Ancient fire worshipper at Ateshgah. The fire temple Baku as a whole now present as a museum have the signs of 17th & 18th Century.

YANAR DAG (THE BURNING MOUNTAIN)

Yanar Dag, meaning “burning mountain”, is a natural gas fire which blazes continuously on a hillside on the Absheron Peninsula on the Caspian Sea near Baku.Flames jet into the air 3 metres from a thin, porous sandstone layer. Unlike mud volcanoes, the Yanar Dag flame burns fairly steadily, as it involves a steady seep of gas from the subsurface. It is claimed that the Yanar Dag flame was only noted when accidentally lit by a shepherd in the 1950s. There is no seepage of mud or liquid, which distinguishes it from the nearby mud volcanoes of Lokbatan or Gobustan.

On the territory of Yanar Dag, State Historical Cultural and Natural Reserve was established by the Presidential decree dated 2 May 2007 which operates under the control of State Tourism Agency of Azerbaijan. After major overhaul between 2017-2019, Yanardag Museum and Yanardag Cromlech Stone Exhibition were launched in the area of the Reserve.

The Yanar Dag fire is never extinguished. The surface flames result from the steady gas emissions from underlying soils Even the surface of streams near Yanar Dag fire can be ignited with a match. Alexandre Dumas, during one of his visits to the area,described a similar fire he saw in the region inside one of the Zoroastrian fire temples built around it.Only a handful of fire mountains exist today in the World, and most are located in Azerbaijan. Due to the large concentration of natural gas under theAbsheron Peninsula, natural flames burned there throughout antiquity and were reported on by historical writers such as Marco Polo.