Crazy Day Trip in Absheron, Gobustan & Mud Volcanoes, Yanardag

Azerbaijan has the most mud volcanoes of any country, spread broadly across the country. 350 of the 800 volcanoes of the world are in the Azerbaijani Republic. Local people call them “yanardagh” (burning mountain), “pilpila” (terrace), “gaynacha” (boiling water) and “bozdag” (grey mountain) alongside its geographical name – mud volcanoes.

Underground and submarine mud volcanoes are also famed in Azerbaijan. There are more than 140 submarine volcanoes in the Caspian Sea. Eight islands in the Baku Archipelago are mud volcanoes by origination. The other kind of mud volcanoes are wells. Their activity can be observed among strata of various ages. According to the information, mud volcanoes initially began their activity in the territory of Azerbaijan 25 million years ago

About 200 eruptions have occurred in 50 volcanoes in the territory of Azerbaijani Republic since 1810. Eruption of mud volcanoes is accompanied by strong explosions and underground rumbling. Gasses come out from the deepest layers of the earth and immediately ignite. A height of a flame over volcano reaches 1000 meters (Garasu volcano). Toragay volcano erupted 6 times from 1841 to 1950.

Mud volcanoes are associated with oilfields. Rich oil and gas fields are found in the territories of mud volcanoes (Lokbatan, Garadgh, Neft Dashlari, Mishovdagh and others). In addition, lava, mud and liquid erupted by mud volcanoes are used as raw materials in chemical and construction industries and also in pharmacology.

Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape covers three areas of a plateau of rocky boulders rising out of the semi-desert of central Azerbaijan, with an outstanding collection of more than 6,000 rock engravings bearing testimony to 40,000 years of rock art. The site also features the remains of inhabited caves, settlements and burials, all reflecting an intensive human use by the inhabitants of the area during the wet period that followed the last Ice Age, from the Upper Paleolithic to the Middle Ages. The site, which covers an area of 537 ha, is part of the larger protected Gobustan Reservation.

Yanardag – (Azerbaijani: Yanar Dağ, meaning "burning mountain") is a natural gas fire, which blazes continuously on a hillside on the Absheron Peninsula on the Caspian Sea near Baku, in Mahammadi village. Sometimes flames in Yanardag jet into the air 10-15 meters. The fire in the area has started since the ancient times of the history. The Yanar Dag fire is never extinguished. Around this open fireplace the atmosphere is filled with the smell of gas. The flames emanate from vents in sandstone formations and rise to a height of 10 metres.

The Baku Ateshgah, often called the "Fire Temple of Baku" is a castle-like religious temple in Surakhani town, a suburb in Baku, Azerbaijan. Based on Persian inscriptions, the temple was used as a Hindu, Sikh, and Zoroastrian place of worship. "Atash" is the Persian word for fire

Many of those who happened to see the design of the Heydar Aliyev Center for the first time had hard times to believe that such a project might ever come true.In fact,even in theory ,the erection of the building of a such extraordinary design looked far from being anyhow realistic.

Construction of the Center’s facility was launched in 2007 and completed on May 10, 2012, to celebrate the National Leader’s 89th anniversary. Recognized as one of the world’s masterpieces in architecture, the Heydar Aliyev Center has immediately grown into a signature architectural landmark of modern Baku. Zaha Hadid, the author of the building's design, is a worldwide recognized architect and the winner of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Not a single straight line was used in the Center’s design.

The overall shape of the building resembles a wave-like ascension from the ground towards the sky followed by gradual descent down to the earth. This is not only a tribute to post-modern architecture, but also a portrayal of an eternal cycle.