Must see attractions in Azerbaijan

The şəbəkə (stained-glass windows) featured at Xan Sarayı are laboriously made by slotting together hundreds of hand-carved wooden pieces to create…

This modest two-room museum celebrates the statistically high proportion of centenarians among Talysh mountain people. Most famous was Şirəli Müslümov …

Azerbaijan's Gəncə-born 'national poet' (1141–1209) stands opposite the drama theatre, looking across the river towards a puppet theatre that is housed in…

This powerful 1958 fountain-statue depicts a mythical Azerbaijani hero using a giant scimitar to slay a snake-like water-spewing 'dragon'. In a pool…

One of Baku's charming oddities, this small museum presents books that are so small you'd need a magnifying glass to read the print. The fact that so many…

Old chaps in flat caps sip tea and slap dominoes all day long beneath shady chestnut and plane trees on this attractive, tree-shaded square. There's an…

Zaqatala's Old Town is centred on a pretty garden-square, above which rise two 30m tall çınar (plane trees) planted in the 1780s. To the south, there are…

Partly dating from at least 1079, this little mosque is considered the the oldest still standing in Baku. Its nickname, 'Sinıq Qala' (Broken Tower), was…

Changing exhibitions are necessarily a little hit-and-miss at this experimental art space, which gives a platform to young or emerging new Azerbaijani…

If you're intrigued by extreme hagiographical reverence, Azerbaijan's many museums to former president Heydar Əliyev can prove sources of inspiration. And…

Since 1948 this attractively tree-shaded graveyard has been set aside as the last resting place for Azerbaijan's foremost public figures. Many of the…

Originally built in 1845 for worshippers from the Russian Imperial Navy, today the modest Archangel Michael Russian Church is the hub for Baku’s Orthodox…

On a rocky outcrop at Ramana, this fortress tower is one of the Abşeron's most dramatic castles, but adding to the interest of the visit is the view of…

A facade like a stylised castle lures visitors to investigate this unusually professional regional museum, whose main appeal is the fine collection of…

In and around Lerik there are numerous points from which to savour wide panoramas over highland fields and serrated crags. One relatively central option…

Shoes walk across this gallery's fascinatingly off-beat front wall, whose centrepiece is a huge lion's face. Inside are paint splattered shirts and a…

Looking somewhere between an electricity pylon and an oil derrick, this digital clock forms a central Bulvar landmark.

This octagonal mosque is Quba’s most-distinctive historic building. Painted a dull red and topped with a metallic dome forming a central point like a…

Pop into this refreshingly air-conditioned centre to peruse the photographic exhibition on the life and times of the 'National Leader'. Or simply to cool…

There's nothing historic about this curious castle-like folly, an intriguing landmark on the ridge above town. It was designed to be a hotel but so poorly…