Maiden Tower

The Maiden Tower stands at the seaward edge of the Old City of Baku, the walled historic quarter known in Azerbaijani as Icheri Sheher, “inner city”. The Persian name used on our Atlas, Qal'eh-ye Dokhtar, means the same as its local one: the maiden's fortress. The tower is a stone cylinder about thirty metres high, with a single solid buttress projecting from one side towards the sea, which once lapped closer to its base.

Its date and purpose are among the most argued questions of Caucasian archaeology. Many scholars date the present structure to the twelfth century, when Baku was ruled by the Shirvanshahs; others argue that its lower part is much older, and some have suggested an early function as a fire temple or observatory rather than a defensive tower. The evidence remains inconclusive, and the debate is part of the building's fascination.

Legends explain the name in several ways, most often with a story of a princess who threw herself from the top rather than marry against her will. Inside, eight floors connected by a stair in the thickness of the wall now hold a museum, and the flat roof gives a view over the old city's lanes and the Caspian waterfront. The tower, the Old City and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs were inscribed together by UNESCO in 2000.