Icherisheher, the original old town of Baku, sits in the shadow of the flame towers, In 2000, it became the first location in Azerbaijan to be classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
I wandered the empty back streets in search of something interesting to snap, away from the touristic stuff with their made in china local souvenir tat.
Easily missed if you are not an habitual rubber necker, the "Monument to Lovers and Cats," is also known as the "Cat's House." A sculpture of two figures and a cat looking out of a window.
No fancy dan legend or back story of loved lost the sculpture created in 1994 is to celebrate Baku's stray cat population.
"Qız Qalasının Uzunqanadları" The Long-winged Birds of Maiden Tower, using bricks to create a 3D effect depict swifts in flight, is part of an effort to create new nesting places for swifts, a protected species.
The flag of Azerbaijan; blue represents their Turkic heritage, the red for progress and democracy, and the green for Islam.The crescent and star are symbols of Islam and the Turkic people.
"Love Art" on the Palace of Happiness, also known as the Mukhtarov Palace, built in the early 20th century by oil magnate Murtuza Mukhtarov as a sign of his love for his wife, Liza Tuganova.
A head, 10ft tall, that tells the story of a life lived, constructed in 1990 to commemorate Aliagha Vahid, an Azerbaijani poet and, back in the days of the USSR an Honoured Artist of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic.
A group of friends and scholars of the poet are reciting poems and singing ghazals (an arabic form of poetry).
His wedding feast
Vahid's funeral: Women in headscarves are mourning.
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