Ateshgah of Baku

The Ateshgah of Baku near Baku, off the Greater Caucasus, is another famous site of Azerbaijan’s eternal fires. Ateshgah means ‘temple of fire’. This pentagonal complex, which has a courtyard surrounded by cells for monks and a tetrapillar-altar in the middle, was built during the 17th and 18th centuries. The fire was once fed by a vent from a subterranean natural gas field located directly beneath the complex, but heavy exploitation of the natural gas reserves in the area during Soviet rule ended the flow of natural gas to the temple and extinguished the holy fire in 1969. The temple was converted into a museum soon after the fire went out. Today, the fire that is seen here is fed by mains gas piped from Baku city.