Baku
Tahir Salahov is probably Azerbaijan's greatest living painter, best known for bringing deep emotional intensity into Soviet Realism. The Baku house where he lived has a good if mostly later collection of his works, but there's added interest from some wonderfully naive Stalin-era carpets plus a fascinating range of photos of the artist meeting everyone from Leonid Brezhnev to Michael Jackson.
Ring the doorbell for entry.
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Vast and jaw-droppingly original, this Zaha Hadid building is a majestic statement of fluid 21st-century architecture forming abstract waves and peaks鈥
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This tapering 29m stone tower is Baku鈥檚 foremost historical icon, with rooftop views surveying Baku Bay and the Old City. Possibly millennia old, its鈥
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Yarat means 'create', a spirit that's in ample evidence in this centre's many thought-provoking installations that don't shy away from sociopolitical鈥
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Completed in 2012, this trio of sinuous blue-glass skyscrapers forms contemporary Baku's architectural signature. The three towers range from 28 to 33鈥
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This splendid confection of sandstone walls and domes was the seat of northeastern Azerbaijan鈥檚 ruling dynasty during the Middle Ages. Mostly 15th century鈥
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Ever-popular with strollers, this leafy piazza forms Central Baku鈥檚 natural focus. The fountains for which it is named include one topped by shiny鈥
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The unique Ate艧gah is an 18th-century fire temple whose centrepiece is a flaming hearth. Arching above is a four-pillared stone dome with side flues which鈥
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This joyous tailor-made gallery uses struts and tubing to create a wide variety of intimate viewing spaces, in many of which you can recline on bean-bag鈥
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This splendid confection of sandstone walls and domes was the seat of northeastern Azerbaijan鈥檚 ruling dynasty during the Middle Ages. Mostly 15th century鈥
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Partly dating from at least 1079, this little mosque is considered the the oldest still standing in Baku. Its nickname, 'Sin谋q Qala' (Broken Tower), was鈥
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Shoes walk across this gallery's fascinatingly off-beat front wall, whose centrepiece is a huge lion's face. Inside are paint splattered shirts and a鈥
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Though it appears relatively squat seen from outside, the interior of the Old City's carving-festooned 'Friday' mosque contains beautifully patterned鈥
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Private gallery with changing modern-art exhibitions. It's tucked between a pretty shaded garden and a section of city wall that features a medieval-style鈥
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One of Baku's charming oddities, this small museum presents books that are so small you'd need a magnifying glass to read the print. The fact that so many鈥
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When active, this excellent commercial minigallery tends to highlight some of the city's more-interesting contemporary artistic trends. Check out their鈥
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Directly in front of the Maiden's Tower are assorted archaeological diggings at what some consider to be the site where Jesus' disciple St Bartholomew was鈥