Baku Architecture Guide — Ancient to Ultra-Modern

Baku contains 12th-century medieval towers, 19th-century Baku Oil Boom mansions, Soviet-era public buildings, and 21st-century architectural masterpieces — all within walking distance of each other. Nowhere else in the world has this particular combination.

The Baku oil booms changed everything. The first boom, in the late 19th century, made Baku one of the wealthiest cities in the world — evidenced today by the extraordinary European-style mansions lining Istiqlaliyyat Street and Neftchilar Avenue, built by Azerbaijani oil barons who hired architects from Paris, Warsaw, and Warsaw. The second boom, after independence in the 1990s, brought Zaha Hadid, the Flame Towers, and some of the most dramatic skyline architecture of the 21st century.