Old City, Baku, Azerbaijan
The Old city used to be the main gate of the city. For about thousand years a lively stream of traffic peasants driving bull-carts, brilliant cavalcades of horsemen, camels, caravans and occasional pilgrims-poured across the drawbridge over the moat and through the arch with its massive iron-cased double gates.
The fortress wall still standing was the inner one. There was an outer wall about 40 feet off it. If the enemy succeeded in scalping the first wall they found themselves in a stone trap where they could be shot at by archers from all sides. Between the walls was a water-filled moat. The outer wall was pulled down when intensive buildings started in the 19th century.
In the course of the many wars over the centuries, the walls were repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. The present perimeter of the fortress emerged in the 13th-15th centuries replacing an older one. A stone found in the ruins of one of the walls, bears the following kufic inscription:”Fortress built by the order of Shirvan –Shah Abdul Hidja Manutchehr of the Kesranid line (1120-49).”On the both sides of the gateway there are stones carved with texts from the Koran inserted into walls. The walls have been restored several times.
Epic Azerbaija Culture & Adventure Route © Monika Newbound
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