There are three encircling walls, with gateways so narrow that our horses could not pass abreast. Baku, Dumas noted, was essentially asiatic, and above all Persian, not only in its buildings, but in its people and the way of life. The bazaars thronged with a mixture of races, buying and selling silks, carpets, gauze, rich velvets, cushions, embroideries, saffron and sugar from Persia, Turkey, Georgia and Linchoran. Shops contained rich displays of pearls and diamonds. New lease of life Today on Fountain Square, the shimmering orange glass facade of the Azeri National Bank, close to the recently opened MacDonalds, sits a stone s throw from streets of fortified towers, olive trees, narrow alleyways, and overhanging balconies.
Little mosques fight for space with grand public buildings and elegant private residences.
Oil barons in the 1880s, competing to see who could build the most spectacular buildings, created an architectural medley of French, Italian, and German styles that fuse effortlessly with influences from the Orient. In sharp contrast, the Peninsula s shorelines are blackened with pools of oily effluent. The Baku that Dumas entered in 1858 was home to some 8,000 residents. Within 50 years it would be home to over 248,000. In 1844 Baku laid claim to the world s first oil well, and by 1901, Baku s oil fields were the source of more than half the world s petroleum supply.