© Getty ImagesFive Things To Know About BakuBaku has a long and fascinating history, here are five things you might not know about the Azerbaijani capital.
TheAzerbaijanGrandPrixhashostedsomeofthemostexcitingracesinthelastfewseasons.Thesuper-long,flatoutstraightmixedwith90˚turnsmakesforathrillingcompetition,butthereissomuchmoretothishistoriccity.
Charging On Past The Flame Towers© Getty Images
Azerbaijan is one of only two countries in the world whose capital city is below sea level. The other is Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
Baku, being 92ft (28 metres) below sea level makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world and the largest city in the world located below sea level.
TheFortressWallsWastheFirstAzerbaijaniIcontoBecomeaUNESCOSite
The Baku Fortress Wall, that the drivers will be screaming past this weekend, were built in 1138 and surround the old city.
At one point the walls were 1,500m long, but currently are 500m. The entire fortress is the largest on the Absheron Peninsula. UNESCO added it to its World Cultural Heritage List in 2000 stating that: “The Walled City of Baku represents an outstanding and rare example of an historic urban ensemble and architecture with influence from Zoroastrian, Sassanian, Arabic, Persian, Shirvani, Ottoman, and Russian cultures.”
Up Close And Personal With The Baku City Circuit© Dan Mullan
TheFlameTowersRepresentTheCountry’sMotto
Known as ‘The Land Of Fire’ The three Flame Towers symbolise the element of fire and resonate with the history and religion of the country. The three buildings are covered in LED screens and cost an estimated US$350 million to build.
The region used to have natural gas flares shoot from the earth and historically resonant in a region where natural gas flares shoot from the earth and Zoroastrian worshippers saw in fire a symbol of the divine. The three-flame motif also appears on the coat of arms of Baku.
ArmWrestlingIsHugeInAzerbaijan
The sport is so big in Azerbaijan that they have a professional league and are part of the World Arm Wrestling Federation and currently boast 29 representative offices and operate in 21 regions of the Republic. And they’ve been very successful over the years, from 2009 until 2015 Azerbaijan collected a total of 141 medals including 54 gold.
Baku has hosted the European Championship, which saw 7600 athletes from 30 countries competing.
ThereIsAMonumentToASovietSuperSpyInZorgePark
In the middle of Zorge Park sits a bronze and granite monument to Richard Sorge a World War Two intelligence officer and Hero of the Soviet union. The park is also named after the spy.
Sorge was a legendary Soviet intelligence officer, the commander of a group operating deep behind enemy lines and posed as a journalised in Germany and Japan. The monument to Sorge is an oblong, curved bronze plaque, reminiscent of a radar installation, in the centre of which there is an image of Sorge's face with the cut right through the stone eyes which depicts his piercing gaze - focused and studying the person.
A Street Circuit With A View© Getty Images
