Vast and jaw-droppingly original, this Zaha Hadid building is a majestic statement of fluid 21st-century architecture forming abstract waves and peaks…
Must see attractions in Baku
- Top ChoiceHeydar Aliyev Center
- Top ChoiceMaiden’s Tower
This tapering 29m stone tower is Baku’s foremost historical icon, with rooftop views surveying Baku Bay and the Old City. Possibly millennia old, its…
- YTop ChoiceYarat Contemporary Art Centre
Yarat means 'create', a spirit that's in ample evidence in this centre's many thought-provoking installations that don't shy away from sociopolitical…
- FTop ChoiceFlame Towers
Completed in 2012, this trio of sinuous blue-glass skyscrapers forms contemporary Baku's architectural signature. The three towers range from 28 to 33…
- Top ChoicePalace of the Shirvanshahs
This splendid confection of sandstone walls and domes was the seat of northeastern Azerbaijan’s ruling dynasty during the Middle Ages. Mostly 15th century…
- FTop ChoiceFountains Square
Ever-popular with strollers, this leafy piazza forms Central Baku’s natural focus. The fountains for which it is named include one topped by shiny…
- MMOMA
This joyous tailor-made gallery uses struts and tubing to create a wide variety of intimate viewing spaces, in many of which you can recline on bean-bag…
- CCarpet Museum
From historic flatweaves to modernist picture-rugs, this tailor-made museum displays and explains a superb collection of Azerbaijani carpets. It's housed…
- BBulvar
Full of rare trees, cafes, fountains and fairground rides, the central sweep of Baku's seafront park is eternally popular with families, amateur musicians…
- ŞŞəhidlər Xiyabanı
The most notable feature of the 'Highland Park' that stretches south from the Flame Towers is this sombre row of grave memorials – Bakuvian victims of the…
- AAzər-İlmə
Hand-woven carpets using wool coloured with vegetable dyes are created before your eyes in this amazingly grand, suburban gallery-workshop that includes a…
- HHistorical Museum
Well-presented exhibits on Azerbaijan’s history and culture might miss the odd century here and there, but there’s more than enough to fill several hours…
- BBibi-Heybət Mosque
Worth a quick stop en route to Qobustan, this 1998 neo-Ottoman-style mosque replaced a 13th-century original demolished by the Soviets 'for road widening'…
- CCaspian Waterfront Mall
Designed like an eight-petalled flower but five stories high and made of steel and glass, this giant project has been under construction since 2007 and…
- TTahir Salahov House Museum
Tahir Salahov is probably Azerbaijan's greatest living painter, best known for bringing deep emotional intensity into Soviet Realism. The Baku house where…
- CCrescent Moon Building
Several gleaming towers are under construction at Crescent Bay opposite Port Baku, including a potentially phenomenal architectural attention-grabber in…
- SState Art Museum
Housed in two century-old oil-boom mansions, Baku’s foremost collection of classical art ranges from 17th-century French landscapes to Meiji-era Japanese…
- CCümə Mosque
Though it appears relatively squat seen from outside, the interior of the Old City's carving-festooned 'Friday' mosque contains beautifully patterned…
- TTəzə Pir Mosque
The grandest historic mosque in central Baku, Təzə Pir was built between 1903 and 1914, funded by a female philanthropist. More-recent renovations added…
- DDom Soviet
Baku's most striking Soviet-era building is a gigantic stone construction fronted by an impressive series of layered stone arches and topped by rows of…