Travel by Nivine Maktabi

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It was in May, right after Beirut Designers’ Week, when Ipacked a small suitcase and I am specifying small as I admitit was a big mistake to try and travel light for a change. Iwas flying to Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, a city which name’salways fascinated me. In fact, for me, Azerbaijan, the homeof the Caucasus, is a name I only crossed in my readingsand specially when researching on Caucasian carpets.

4 am was the take off; of course I was sleepy and slept on bothconnecting flights, from Beirut to Istanbul and Istanbul to Baku.As it is not yet a popular touristic destination, most passengerswere either locals or Turkish and around one or two foreignersI would assume working for a petroleum company, BT or alike.

Upon arrival, the sun was blinding and a line of black cabs were fillingthe pavement outside the airport. Seeing a London cab automatical-ly put a smile on my face. However the color of the cab was purpleand the steering wheel on the left, contrary to the English black cab.

I headed to Fairmont Hotel, known as the Flame towers, the tallestand biggest three skyscrapers in the city. An impressive archi-tecture overlooking the city and the Caspian Sea was awaiting me.

Due to my several travels to carpet manufacturing countries,Azerbaijan was actually a big surprise, very different from what Iimagined it. While still in the taxi, at some point I thought I was inDubai, then some of the buildings and highways reminded me ofSt Petersburg and then again the boulevards resembled Paris. So ina way, the city didn’t have an identity yet again it was impressivewith all the nicely new mansions, cleanliness, greenery and seaside.In short, it is a very modern city with a lot of glamour and grandiose.

Heyder Aliyev Center designed by Zaha Hadid.

Oil tanks in the middle of the sea.

Should I call it the City of Caviar, Oil and Gazor the land of Caucasian Carpets?

Bakuthe City of Winds

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Here I am at Fairmont, a very contemporary hotel with a re-markable chandelier in the center of the lobby’s high ceilingand a state of the art, ESPA-Spa spreading over 3 floors. Asfor my room, it was just amazing on the 13th floor overloo-king the Caspian Sea and was so thrilled when I saw the RolledCarpet Museum by the glass window panel. I couldn’t get enoughof the spectacular views of the Caspian Sea and Baku’s skyline.

Like with every new country I visit, a bit of history is always good.I was touring the capital with Chirine, my childhood friend andlearnt some facts from Subhan, our guide. In brief, located at thecrossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, Baku is the capi-tal and the largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city onthe Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is bordered by theCaspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Turkey and Georgiato the northwest, Armenia to the west and Iran to the south.

According to Subhan, most tourists come mainly from Kazakhstan,Uzbekistan, Russia, Japan, Turkey, Spain and Iran. As for visa regu-lations, most CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countriescan enter with no visas including Israel and Turkey, they havethe opportunity to obtain visas in Azerbaijan international air-ports (Baku, Ganja, Nakhichevan) upon arrival. The official lan-guages used in the country are Azeri and Turkish and not Russian.

The Independence

Baku is one of the largest industrial and cultural centers in the East,but it is also the first Muslim-majority country (95% are Shiia-Muslimand the rest are Christians and Jews) to have operas, theaters and plays,i.e.: Puppet Theater and the Philharmonic Hall that was constructedthroughout 1910-1912 at the request of the city elite. In fact, it is in-credible to learn that the literacy rate is 99% in the country. In 1918,the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was established, the date of Azer-baijan first independence from Royal Russia but was incorporatedinto the Soviet Union in 1920 as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Re-public. Azerbaijan regained independence in 1991 and returned theirflag and hence it was the year of their 2nd independence. The Flag isin equal stripes of blue, red and green, as picture: blue meaning theinfluence of the Turkish culture, red as the European democracyand modernity and green representing the Islamic civilization.

Shahid Square next to Parliament in Baku.

Inside the incredible Heydar Aliyev Center designed by Zaha Hadid.

Outside Zaha Hadid project in Baku.

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I was surprised to learn about the Black January, a massacre inthe end of the 20th century where one million people gathered inIndependence Square to get their autonomy from USSR. However,they were killed by Gorbatchev tanks of Red Army. Hence thename the Black 20 January when 169 people sacrificed their livesand were later buried in the military cemetery. Black Januaryalso known as Black Saturday or the January Massacre was a vio-lent crackdown in Baku on January 19-20, 1990, pursuant to astate of emergency during the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

According to the decree of the president of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyevfrom December 16, 1999, all victims of the crackdown were awar-ded an honorary title of the «Martyr of January 20». Heydar Aliyevwas the president of the country till his death in 2003. His sonElham Aliyev succeeded him. (His wife Mehriban and daughterLayla are very active and big entrepreneurs). The Shahid Square isa must see as you will visit Black January martyrs eternal flame me-morial. It is located right across the Fairmont Hotel, walking distan-ce from the Parliament and opposite the Funicular (similar to the onesin Swiss mountains) taking you right across the new Carpet museum.

Azerbaijan history can be divided between the medieval era and themodern and oil era. For those interested to learn more about Baku oilboom and history (Jewish, Persian and Russian influence), I recom-mend to read «the Orientalist» by Tom Reiss, a fascinating novel.

Museum of Modern Art Moma in Baku, paintedby wife of President, Mehriban Aliyev.

Rolling chair carpet design.

My room came with this spectacular view on the Caspian Sea andthe Rolled Carpet Museum.

Discovering history and culturewith a modern twist.

Places to visit

The first attraction we visited was the Heydar Aliyev Center

developed and designed by renowned architect Zaha Hadid. Theconstruction of the Center’s facility was launched in 2007 and com-pleted in 2012 to celebrate the National Leader’s 89th anniversary.Recognized as one of the world’s masterpieces in architecture, theHeydar Aliyev Center has immediately grown into a signature ar-chitectural landmark of modern Baku. From the outside, theconstruction looks like waves, some say the signature of the presi-dent but in fact it is just a unique superb architecture. The Curvedarchitecture includes Conference center, museum, park and a library.It is quite impressive and very futuristic. I really loved it and lovedthe different exhibitions on display. It encompasses 3 sections:

•The Heydar Aliyev Museum•The Exhibition Halls. This section occupies 9 floors withexhibition halls, administrative office and a spacious whitesuper modern cafeteria.•The Auditorium. This section of 4 levels embraces 2 multi-functional conference halls, meeting rooms and the media center.

The modern Azerbaijan is recognized in the world through itsnationwide leader Heydar Aliyev. And the Center bearing the na-me of Heydar Aliyev has become a symbol of modern Azerbaijanand modern Baku. In addition, apparently both the beautiful firstlady Mehriban (www.mehriban-aliyeva.org) and her attractivedaughter Layla are talented painters and exhibit their art works inboth Heydar Aliyev Center and the Moma, museum of modern art.

Moma is the modern art museum. In March 2009 by the ini-tiative of first lady Mehriban Aliyeva and with the support ofthe Heydar Aliyev Fund, the Museum of Modern Art has beenopened in Baku, by Port Baku. The museum basis is the col-lection of the best works of painting and sculpture of Azerbaijanavant-guardists from 2nd half of the 20th century up to now.

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Port Baku is where you will find the new high-rise, i.e.: Trump To-wers, new hotels, new shops, new restaurants by the harbor. It is their«Zaytounay bay» on a larger scale or maybe «Chelsea Harbour» inLondon. Many of BP employees reside there. It is no surprise to seemainly foreigners as cafes and shops like Paul, WHSmith are cur-rently open and not far from «Park bulvar», the biggest shopping mall.

To tour the city, it was fun going on the sightseeing bus. The busdrove on all boulevards and the main Boulevard Square op-posite the Four Seasons hotel, where all high end boutiques are(I didn’t expect to come across all the high street Italian and Fren-ch fashion brands and jewellery like De Beers and Tiffany’s) andfacing a beautiful greenery scene overlooking the Caspian Sea.It is like walking along Lac Leman in Geneva, especially that ithas a small jet d’eau that lights up at night. It is a peaceful sce-nery, clean, very modern and contemporary overlooking the sea.

One of the fascinating stories was learning that Azerbaijanhad the biggest flag in the world before Tajikistan executedtheirs which is the world’s biggest now, leaving Baku 2nd inline measuring 7m by 35m.

Subhan also pointed out at a huge stadium where in 2013 Beyon-ce, Shakira, JLO were among the famous singers who came for2012 Euro Vision song contest and that in 2015 European Gameswill be held in Baku. I was also amazed to know that James Bondmovie «The world is not enough» was filmed in Baku in 1999.

My second stop on foot was at Maiden Tower, the old city, apedestrian area surrounded by old tiny houses. Most shops car-ry Caucasian carpets and a lot of imported art craft from Turkey,their neighboring country. Besides the carpet shops, there wasthis amazing modern gallery featuring all local talented designersart works from paintings to sculptures and not cheap if I maysay. Prices were mentioned in dollars and euros. I browsed in mostshops and was very happy testing my knowledge on all Caucasiancarpets names and origins. My favorite and weak point re-mained for the Karabagh Gul Farang carpet, Savonnerie design.In addition, there were a number of boutique hotels like «Shah

Palace» and many typical restaurants such as Karavan Sarai, ArtGarden, however we ended up in «Mankal». We placed our orderwith practically signing and drawing because no waiter knew a wordof English, I even tried to speak Farsi hoping it may mean some-thing to them. My favorite dish was their traditional Lahem bi Ajincalled «Kutab» that comes with ingredients, meat, spinach or cheese.

Like in every country, one always makes time for the «ritual»:shopping and that was fun as again I had to sign languagefor the right size and colour in «Fountain Square», the vibrantand colorful shopping area.

Later that night, we wanted to pamper ourselves and go for afine dining treat. Destination was «Chinar», Nobu and Zuma’salike. We took the funicular from «Shahid Square» oppositethe Fairmont and landed literally at the doorstep of «Chinar».I was delighted when I tasted my favorite succulent black coddish. The unusual scene was that on their outdoor terrace shi-sha was served with the sushi rolls and dumplings nibbles. Iwould say a bit of a modern meeting local habits. It is in factowned by Layla Aliyev, the president’s daughter. She also ownsa number of other modern restaurants in the city and on thesea shore like «Mugham» Azeri cuisine and «Tora» Italian cuisine.

On the weekend we wanted to be adventurous and decidedto discover the Mud Volcanoes and Gobustan outside Baku.Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape is a hill and moun-

Port Baku the new downtown of Baku on the Harbour.

On carpets in old city Maiden Tower.

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tain site occupying the southeast end of the Greater Caucasusmountain ridge in Azerbaijan, about 40 miles (64km) southwestof the centre of Baku on the west bank of the Caspian Sea. In2007 Gobustan was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Siteconsidered to be of «outstanding universal value» for the quali-ty and density of its rock art engravings, for the substantial evi-dence the collection of rock art images presents of hunting, dan-cing and lifestyles scenes in pre-historic and medieval times thatthe site reflects, which I enjoyed climbing.

For more activities one can assist to an Opera or Ballet Theatre atthe opera house and philharmonic hall or take a boat trip on Seasi-de Boulevard, however do not expect to visit oil rocks unless youare lucky to get a government permission to enter the offshore city.

Mud Volcanoes

I learnt that Azerbaijan and its Caspian coastline are home to near-ly 400 mud volcanoes, more than half the total throughout theworld. In 2001, one mud volcano, 15km from Baku, made worldheadlines when it suddenly started ejecting flames 15 meters high.It was a unique experience as the place was deserted and roadswere very remote. The fun part was hearing the mud ejecting andfeeling it as it is surprisingly cool unlike the bubbling boilinglava. Our next stop was Gobustan.

Meanwhile on the road, you cannot but notice the crude oil tankerson the highways and in the middle of the sea. In addition, a huge pro-ject, «Khazar Island» was under construction, you may compare it tothe Palm Dubai or the Pearl in Qatar however on a bigger scale withall its residential compounds and villas overlooking the Caspian Sea.

On my way to Gobustan.Chilling on the rock on top of the world in Gobustan.

Mud volcano in Baku.

Adventurous road trip outside Baku:UNESCO World Heritage list.

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With Nargis weaving for 32 years.

Antique Caucasian carpets in the museum.With Amina my guide and a customised portrait carpet of the late president.

In front of the new Rolled Carpet Museum.

Caucasian carpets

Have you noticed I did not mention about the Caucasian car-pets? Well I want to save the best for last. Azerbaijan is theland of Caucasian rugs. The rugs are mainly of repetitive geome-tric stylized patterns and very symbolic like stylized dragon,tree of life, cloud bands, cypress tree, eight point medallions,water canals, double headed animals… These motifs are of-ten mystical symbols of life and of the immortality of the soul.

This craft was highly connected to the daily life of the popula-tion, traditional song performances during the Nohruz holiday,the local New Year, with carpets being used as a home decora-tion and part of furniture. Wonderful Azerbaijani carpets are re-presented in two types: piled and pileless. Pileless carpets in otherterms, flatweaves Kelims are of many kinds, the most famous ofwhich are Djajim, Zili, and Soumakh. From the famous piled orknotted carpets are the Kazak carpets like Seykhour, Borchali,Chonzorek, Fakhralo, Chelaberd, Leshgi, Talish, Shikli rugs,pronounces differently according to villages and mountains.

There are several schools of carpet weaving in the country,which are distinguished by patterns, colour palette and com-position of carpets, such as Guba, Shirvan, Nakhchivan, Kazak,Karabakh and Tabriz carpet-making schools. The distinctionis very similar not only with rugs but also with dresses andmusic instruments. Each tribe and area has distinguished tra-ditional outfits and music instruments, very typical for each group.

Carpet-weaving art is one of the ancient crafts in Azerbaijan. For cen-turies the Land of Fire (as the word «Azar» in Farsi means fire), hasbeen famous for its unique carpets, which nowadays are exhibitedin many world museums - in the Louvre in Paris, in the Hermitagein Saint-Petersburg, in the Victoria and Albert in London, in the Tex-tile museum in Washington, in the Topkapi museum in Istanbul...

The new carpet museum designed in the form of a rolled car-pet opened end of August in the Baku seaside park (boulevard).Therefore, for those wondering, Yes I will be visiting Baku again

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