Baku Azerbaijan embankment. Embankment in Baku - seaside park and other attractions. Visa issue and registration

01. On the one hand, the boulevard is the embankment of the Caspian Sea stretching along the central part of Baku.

02. On the other hand, this is a cult place where concerts are held in Baku, where a wonderful park is laid out, a musical fountain works, street exhibitions are held... In the end, this is a place where it’s so cool to walk day and night, breathing in the fresh sea air.

03. In addition, the boulevard offers a good view of modern city.

04. Of course, there are the usual attributes here too modern world, like shopping and entertainment centers

05. Well, here's one of them - Park Boulevard. Modern architecture combined with parklands looks quite attractive, in my opinion. At the top there is a veranda with nice restaurants, I recommend it.

06. In general, it’s nice to just walk here. The territory of the boulevard is a national park, so the state is investing money here, thoroughly reconstructing the territory. So by 2015 it is planned that the length of the park will increase five (!) times, and will be 25 km.

07. Well, today, in the reconstructed part of the boulevard, it’s good. These are the views from the Marine Station (where the park begins).

08. The feeling of home comfort and caring attitude towards the park did not leave me all the way. Clean, beautiful...

11. Of course, strange plants were brought here from afar.

12. Without delving too deeply into the history of the park’s origins, I’ll mention that it’s already over 100 years old! In 1909, the territories were cleared, trees were planted, flower beds were laid out, in addition, a bathing area was created, with a special summer palace, where you could leave your things, change clothes, or just drink tea.

13. Today they no longer swim here (I didn’t see any floating oil, but the towers in the sea are visible on the horizon). But the tradition of drinking tea on the embankment, in numerous cafes, remains.

15. There is also a real parachute tower here, reminiscent of an oil derrick in shape. This 75-meter structure was installed here in 1936 as a means of extreme entertainment. That's what we would say today. In those days, the basic military training of young people was taken much more seriously, and jumping from a tower was quite an honor. There were four marks in total at heights of 10, 20, 25 and 60 meters. The parachute had a permanent canopy that did not change or fold. Be that as it may, in the 60s, after a tragic incident, the tower changed its purpose, turning into a silent landmark and a recognizable city landmark.

16. Several piers go out to sea, some of them have free access, and you can walk along them, inhaling the fresh sea breeze, or fish.

17. Or think about something of your own, looking into the distance...

18. The pier offers a good view of city landmarks. A modern business center with a large exhibition hall and several small conference rooms, in addition there are office premises, meeting rooms and a restaurant inside. As far as I understand, any company can rent temporarily (for a day or an hour) one of the premises for negotiations or some kind of event. It's funny.

19. Whether we like it or not, now Baku looks something like this from the sea.

20. Near the shore, there are steps leading to the sea, along which it is pleasant to walk, or sit, talking with friends or a girlfriend. By the way, I haven’t seen anyone drinking beer or anything stronger...

21. From here you can watch the Caspian ferries entering the port. "Professor Gul" and similar ones operate on the ferry lines Baku - Turkmenbashi (Turkmenistan), or Baku - Aktau (Kazakhstan). Transported mainly railway cars, cars and passengers.

22. By the way, the lines are quite busy, the port serves two to three ferries a day.

23. Well, our story is not about them. Let's return to Primorsky Boulevard.

24. We have already briefly looked at the sea side of the boulevard. From the city side there is a view of Neftchilar Avenue (or Neftchilyar). This is perhaps the main street of Baku. There are many important sites and attractions of the city located on the naya. The photo shows an element of the Government Palace.

25. Nearby Hilton Hotel on Freedom Square.

26. Quite nice buildings, completely rebuilt, look like palaces from the outside. I don’t know what’s inside, who knows, tell me.

27. Actually, Freedom Square. Funny Hilton looks at Marriott (Absheron), Marriott looks at Hilton,

28. and between them the Government House.

is one of the most beautiful cities in the world with ancient history and modern construction technologies. It harmoniously combines old neighborhoods and glass skyscrapers, green parks and urban business districts. The pride of the capital's residents is the Baku embankment, which is called Primorsky Boulevard. Its length is almost 20 km, and the history of the street began in the first third of the 19th century, when city authorities first began to raise the issue of improving the seashore.

Back to the past

The first real project for the construction of an embankment in Baku and financial resources for its implementation appeared in 1909. Improvement work began from the modern building of the puppet theater to Azneft Square. Flowerbeds and squares appeared on the seashore, and the city bathhouse built there looked more like fairytale palace.
In the post-war years, Primorsky Boulevard was extended and expanded, and in the 70s a decision was made on global reconstruction due to the exposure of part of the seabed near the coast.

Walk with pleasure

It is pleasant to stroll along the Baku embankment at any time of the year. Restored and updated cafes, attractions and memorable places are of undoubted interest both for guests of the Azerbaijani capital and for its residents:

• The musical fountain opposite Azneft Square is a landmark and a colorful show of world significance. It first started working in 2007 during festive events in honor of the city day.
• The parachute tower is made in the shape of an oil tower and has a height of 75 meters. There is an electronic display on it, informing about the time, date, air temperature and wind strength. The building was inaugurated in 1936 and was used for its intended purpose for a long time. Today the Parachute Tower is one of the memorable landmarks of the capital.
• System of pleasure canals "Little Venice" – favorite place family vacation on the Baku embankment. Built in 1960, the attraction offers the opportunity to take a gondola ride or motor boat and have dinner at a restaurant on the beach.

City's legends

The visiting card of the Azerbaijani capital, the medieval Maiden Tower greets everyone who comes to the city from the sea. It was built in the 12th century in the coastal part of old Baku. The main citadel of the city fortress is now listed World Heritage UNESCO.

The pearl of Baku and one of its calling cards - Primorsky Boulevard was not born immediately. Once upon a time there was a city wall at this place, protecting Baku from attacks from the sea.

In the 60s of the 19th century, the wall turned out to be unnecessary - there was no one to raid Baku, and they decided to demolish it. The wall was dismantled, the city government sold the stone for 44 thousand rubles - a huge amount of money at that time. On them, the authorities created a 30-meter space along the shore - a prototype of the future embankment. Around the same time, original buildings in the Moorish style began to grow there - after all, at first it was decorated mainly with warehouses with goods and the piers of shipping companies. All this was intended for trade with Persia. Thus began the long and eventful history of the Baku Primorsky Boulevard.

Today it is compared to the world famous Copacabana Boulevard in Rio and the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. But Primorsky Boulevard in Baku is unique. This is an embankment that stretches for 5 kilometers along the seashore, and literally tomorrow its length will increase five times more! Today the embankment starts at the foot of Nagorny Park and goes along the shore of the Caspian Sea, past Icheri Sheher - the Old City to the Sea Port. The most picturesque part of the boulevard is located between Nagorny Park and the Governor's Garden (Azneft Square). This is not a dull strip of asphalt under the scorching sun. Throughout the entire boulevard, cozy shady alleys have been planted, canals akin to Venetian ones have been dug, flower beds have been laid out, cafes have been set up under open air, where it’s so good to drink a glass of mineral water with the strongest coffee brewed in Azerbaijani style in the heat and play chess. Here, on this boulevard, no one is in a hurry, especially in the evenings. But in the evening, when the heat of the day subsides a little, the boulevard blossoms. It seems that all of Baku has gathered here. Families walk, loving couples roam, everything is here. Particularly interesting is the Carpet Museum, where samples of ancient Azerbaijani and Iranian carpet weaving are collected and carefully preserved.

Near the Carpet Museum there is a pier where pleasure ships and boats moor, they set off on their daily journey along the picturesque canals, and at some point it seems that you are no longer in Baku, but in Venice, especially since the banks of the canals are built the houses are in the Venetian style, and there are openwork bridges across the canal. Another shock awaits in the Old Town. The symbol of Baku, glorified by poets, overlooks the embankment here. Primorsky Boulevard in Baku is of national importance. Like Red Square in Moscow, Khreshchatyk in Ukraine or St. Peter's Square in the Vatican. By decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev dated January 10, 2008, taking into account the importance of Primorsky Boulevard for the history, culture and ecology of the capital of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Primorsky Boulevard Office was created under the Cabinet of Ministers. In accordance with the same document, the Primorsky Boulevard began to be thoroughly improved and reconstructed. The money was allocated by the Baku City Hall.

When the plan is fully implemented, the territory of the Primorsky Park will be increased fivefold. It will stretch from the Marine Station to the village of Zykh and from the Palace of Hand Games to the Bibi-Heybat Mosque - 25 kilometers. Today, major reconstruction continues on the boulevard in the National Seaside Park located next to it, the green area is expanding, new musical fountains are being built, and the coastline is being modernized. All work is planned to be completed by 2015, and then we will all be able to see the updated Primorsky Boulevard. He will appear in all his splendor from the Bayylov Heights to Zykh. Construction of new ultra-modern hotels is already underway here. It is worth noting that all industrial facilities located along the construction route will be moved outside the city. Undoubtedly, this will improve the environmental situation in Baku - just as the demolition of the fortress wall once gave access to the city to fresh sea wind.

Where is:

The capital of Azerbaijan is spread over a wide 20-kilometer amphitheater on the shores of the Baku Bay of the Caspian Sea, bounded by Cape Sultan from the east, Cape Shikhov from the southwest, and the islands of the Baku archipelago Gum, Dash-Zira and Boyuk-Zira from the south and southeast. The sea facade of Baku is one of the calling cards of the city, and the Primorsky Boulevard stretching along the entire coast of the bay is favorite place walks of tourists and townspeople.

1. Green trees and flowers here are pleasing to the eye even in January.

In the early 2000s, the leadership of Azerbaijan signed profitable international contracts with a number of large foreign oil companies, and in 2003-2006, a large oil pipeline Baku - Tbilisi - Ceyhan (Turkey) with a throughput capacity of 1.2 million barrels of oil per day was built - a new one route for transporting Caspian oil to Turkish ports Mediterranean Sea bypassing Russia and Iran. Almost instantly, as oil money began to flow into the treasury, the appearance of Baku began to change rapidly - countless skyscrapers began to appear like mushrooms, instead of the old typical Soviet quarters (which in some places were cleared and completely demolished), new houses began to be built, proud flagpoles flew up, boulevards were reconstructed, streets, dozens of bright new dominants have appeared in the city... I think that anyone who has not been to Baku for 20 years would simply not recognize this city today. Few cities in the world change so quickly, and nowhere else do East and West combine so harmoniously and chaotically. As a popular guidebook writes, “the capital of Azerbaijan is the architectural love child of Paris and Dubai, albeit with big amount Soviet genes, half-hidden in the background."

2. One of the new symbols of Baku is the three Flame Towers skyscrapers, built in 2007-2012. They symbolize the coat of arms of Baku (which depicts three oil torches over the sea) and the motto of the whole of Azerbaijan - “Land of Fire”. The towers look especially impressive in the evening illumination - we will see this again.

3. On the shores of Baku Bay near the port, several more magnificent skyscrapers are being built, including this “Crescent” building, which should soon become another architectural highlight of the city. Interestingly, opposite it on the other side of the bay there will be a spherical skyscraper - the “Sun”, also known by the nickname “Death Star”.

4. New luxurious skyscrapers of the most bizarre shapes harmoniously coexist with monuments of the past in Baku. One of them is the House of the Government of Azerbaijan ("House of Soviets") - a brilliant example of Stalinist Empire architecture. During Soviet times, the government of the Azerbaijan SSR was located here, and in front of the building there was a monument to Lenin on a high pedestal. Today, instead of Lenin, there flutters on the pedestal state flag, and the restored building houses the offices of state companies and several ministries.

The photo clearly shows the empty pits of the Formula 1 teams, which are located here during auto racing.

5. Right there, on Freedom Square ( former square Lenin) there is the hotel "Absheron". Until 2008, there was an old hotel here, still Soviet-built, built in 1965. In 2009, the old building was demolished and a new modern five-star Marriott hotel appeared in its place.

6. The water surface of Baku Bay. In the distance in the port you can see oil platforms, drilling rigs, and oil production vessels.

7. Today it is calm - the islands of the Baku archipelago are clearly visible on the horizon.

8. We continue our walk along the embankment from the House of Soviets towards the Flame Towers. The monumental building of the Museum Center was built in 1957 and during Soviet times there was a Lenin Museum here. Today it houses the Museum of Musical Culture, the Museum of Azerbaijan Independence and the Theater Museum.

9. The 20-kilometer Primorsky Boulevard is, without a doubt, business card Baku.

10. Formula 1 races take place right on the streets of Baku and have been held in the capital of Azerbaijan since 2016.

11. In winter, a huge Christmas tree is installed on Primorsky Boulevard; performances, concerts and street events for children are held here.

12. Now let's look at Baku from the heights of the Nagorny Park. You can take the funicular from the embankment to the top of the hill, but there is always a long queue, and in the evening the intervals are around 20 minutes. Therefore, if you have the strength, it is easier to walk up.

13. At the foot of the "Flame Towers".

14. Monument to Azi Aslanov, Soviet military leader, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, commander of tank brigades, major general of armored forces. He participated in the defense of Kyiv, in the battles of Stalingrad, in the liberation of Belarus, the Baltic states, and died in January 1945 during reconnaissance of the area in the Liepaja region.

16. Mostly the dates of death are 1991, 1992, 1993, the very height of the Karabakh war. In 2013, I had the opportunity to visit Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh - there are also many monuments and memorials to those who died in this war (well, of course, to our own). Whether in Armenia or Azerbaijan, the memory of those killed in Karabakh is honored on both sides of the front and considered their own national heroes.

17. The Eternal Flame Memorial appeared here on the hill in 1998.

19. So observation deck The Nagorny Park offers wonderful panoramas of the city, the Flame Towers, Primorsky Boulevard and Baku Bay.

21. Baku is one of the most rapidly transforming cities in the world. And it continues to transform year after year. Several very impressive buildings are now being built here at once - I have already spoken about skyscrapers in the shape of a crescent and a sun. And in this photo - under construction shopping mall in the shape of a Caspian lotus flower.

Article by O. Bulanova about the history of the creation of Primorsky Boulevard in Baku

According to numerous polls, the majority of Baku residents believe that the face of the city is definitely Primorsky Boulevard. This is truly the sea facade of Baku, which for almost two centuries determined the face of the capital of Azerbaijan.

The history of Primorsky Boulevard, including the embankment, which was in different years different names, incredibly interesting. In 2009, the centenary of the boulevard was solemnly celebrated, but its history is much longer.

Conversations about the need for an embankment in Baku have been going on for a long time, various options were discussed.

According to the original version of the project, between the fortress wall that surrounded Icheri-Shekher from the sea and the buildings behind it, it was planned to lay a street of unprecedented width for that time - 18 m. On one side, the street would be limited by the fortress wall, on the other side by the rear facades of the buildings . With significant differences in elevation, the new street would not be able to play a significant role in the city and would be architecturally inexpressive.

Therefore, in 1865, the Baku military governor and manager of the civil part, Lieutenant General Mikhail Petrovich Kolyubakin, submitted a petition to demolish a section of the old fortress wall that separated Icheri Sheher from the sea coast and “with its uselessness impeded the free movement of air.” Permission was obtained and the wall was demolished.

However, after the demolition of the wall, the need for architectural design of the embankment immediately began to be felt. Therefore, the proceeds from the sale of the stone of the demolished wall (44 thousand rubles) were “used for the construction of a pier,” newspapers of those years wrote, “and an elegant stone embankment, which was soon decorated with a number of beautiful private houses.”

Baku owes its first improvement to the architect Karl Gustavovich Gippius, who, by the way, defended the Palace of the Shirvanshahs when they tried to adapt it as a city prison. K. Gippius participated in the formation of a number of streets and in the design of the first houses on the embankment. Connoisseurs and historians are well aware of his watercolor of 1867, which depicts the embankment and the houses on it, including the governor’s house (later it housed a medical workers’ club with an attached third floor, and now the Four Seasons Hotel stands on this site).

The remarkable Azerbaijani architect Gasymbek Hajibababekov (1811-1874) took on the construction of the embankment. The ancient Maiden Tower - the symbol of Baku - then played the role of a lighthouse, and it is difficult to say whether this one would have survived to this day amazing monument, if not for this circumstance. G. Hajibababekov carried out significant engineering and planning work on the improvement of the embankment, was involved in its construction and issues of supplying fresh water.

In 1867, according to his design, a water fountain (also visible in the watercolor by K. Gippius) and other structures were built on the future Azneft Square, a wide sidewalk lined with trees was planned, and alleys 13 m wide were planned between sections of private property. from the embankment there were views of the expressive architecture of the Baku fortress - Icheri Sheher.

After this, the embankment received the status of a boulevard, which, according to contemporaries, became a decoration of the city. It must be said that the embankment was the object of close attention of the city authorities also because the governor’s house was located on it. In 1882, it was planned to build a boulevard on the embankment, designed by the architect A. Koshkin.

But despite all the efforts, the embankment still remained not the most attractive and comfortable part of the city, because it housed numerous private piers of trading firms and shipping companies with warehouses and other buildings that cluttered and polluted the seashore so much that even the activities carried out on it the improvement was reduced to nothing.

For example, the shipping company "Caucasus and Mercury" built a pier and a number of other structures on the embankment, dividing the coastal strip into two parts: Aleksandrovskaya embankment (in honor of Emperor Alexander II) was located along Icheri-Sheher approximately from the future Azneft Square to the future Theater dolls, which, of course, did not exist then, and Petrovskaya, who was walking to east direction further along coastline. Therefore, in 1897, a barrier was built that separated a 50 m wide area from the sea, clearly marking the boulevard as an integral architectural structure.

In 1900, the city's Garden Commission decided to build a large nursery for ornamental trees on the embankment, and from that moment on, active landscaping of the boulevard began. A detailed landscaping project, taking into account the width of the alleys and their length, types of trees, shrubs, etc., was drawn up by civil engineer (architect) Kazimir Skurevich, a Pole in the Russian service, together with the city gardener Vasiliev.

In the first years of the twentieth century. The boulevard already had a rather attractive appearance, the embankment continued to be captivated by piers and berths. For turning the embankment into a beautiful one transport route, as well as a place of recreation and a city park, the mayors took over only in 1909, and this date is considered the official year of “birth” Baku Boulevard. As the Caspian newspaper reported in issue No. 77 of 1909, “The Duma allocated 10 thousand rubles for the construction of a boulevard on the embankment.”

The talented engineer Mamed-Hasan Gadzhinsky (not to be confused with Isabek Gadzhinsky, the owner of the beautiful house to the right of the Maiden Tower) took up the noble task of improvement; The talented German architect Adolf Eichler also took part. Projects were drawn up for large pavilions on the embankment in the Art Nouveau style under the loud names "Olympia" for the cinema and the Eldorado restaurant, fountains and gazebos, as well as stairs leading to the sea.

The boulevard did not yet turn out to be very long: the plans of the organizers very quickly collided with the interests of big capital - there were few people willing to sacrifice their docks, warehouses and marinas. Therefore, at first the coastal area was landscaped, located between the pier of the Caucasus and Mercury society and the house of Seid Mirbabaev, i.e. Alexandrovskaya embankment itself. No one dared to encroach on the interests of the Caucasus and Mercury society.

Subsequently, the amount of allocations was increased to 600 thousand rubles. Baku patrons also provided material support. The city authorities announced a competition for the best project, in which about thirty specialists took part, among whom were prominent architects and civil engineers. Territories were cleared, trees and shrubs were planted, and flower beds were laid out.

In addition, a competition was announced for the design of a bathhouse with a restaurant, as well as for thirteen kiosks for various purposes. The project of the civil engineer and at the same time the city (chief) architect of Baku Nikolai Grigoryevich Bayev (1878-1949) won, and in 1914 the Alexander Bath was built. The wooden bathhouse on stilts, according to contemporaries, “attracted attention with its original architecture,” looked like a fairy tale summer palace, on the roof of which there was a comfortable solarium with a shower. This bathhouse completely transformed the appearance of the boulevard.

By the way, this bath is not the first. Before it there was another, also called Alexandrovskaya. It was built in 1884 according to the design of the civil engineer and city architect in 1881-1886, Mikhail Dmitrievich Botov (1855-1886). The Botovskaya bathhouse was incomparably simpler in architecture, and it had fallen into disrepair over thirty years.

The Baevskaya bathhouse was demolished in the early 60s, due to the rise in water levels in the Caspian Sea and the partial reconstruction of the boulevard. Although old Baku residents still regret the lost beauty...

The embankment was a wide spatial composition; in combination with the boulevard, the greenery of numerous trees (which, by the way, were selected very thoughtfully - taking into account not only the survival rate, but also the shading they create, which modern landscape designers do not think about at all), this section of the city was very picturesque and represented the busiest part of it. It is no coincidence that contemporaries noticed that the most brilliant part of Baku is its embankment.

By the beginning of the 50s. the length of Primorsky Boulevard was already 2.7 km - from the ship repair plant. Paris Commune to the new passenger sea terminal. In the 60s, after the construction of a new seaport, the boulevard was extended to the current Azadlig Square in front of the Government House. At that time the square was named after Lenin. The author of the project was the architect M. Guseinov.

In 1966, according to the project of this architect, on Primorsky Boulevard, in the area of ​​​​Azadlig Square, an area open to the sea was created, which ended with descents to the coastline, decorated with parterre greenery, flower beds and a cascade of fountains. In 1967, M. Huseynov was trained new project reconstruction of the entire Primorsky Boulevard.

Due to a significant decrease in the level of the Caspian Sea, which reached its level in 1977 lowest point, as a result of which a wide strip of the former seabed was exposed, work was undertaken to create a second lower terrace of the Seaside Park, where alleys, lawns and fountains were built.

At the same time, the boulevard grew in width: due to the drop in the level of the Caspian Sea, a wide, shallow strip was formed, above which its lower terrace was erected. But it soon became clear: the sea had not retreated forever. The rise in the level of the Caspian coincided with the political and economic unrest of the 90s. The lower terrace of the boulevard - a walking overpass, as well as the boat pier and yacht club were flooded, trees began to die from the salt water, and in some places reeds even appeared. As a result of the reconstruction work, the lower terrace of the boulevard was raised by several meters.

Stretching for several kilometers, the Primorsky Boulevard has been a favorite place for many generations of Baku residents to relax, walk, and meet with friends. Its green spaces included such a wide range of flora that it was rightly called a national treasure.

Today, the Baku embankment in its former form lives only in the memory of the older generation of Baku, but the Primorsky Boulevard, updated in the spirit of modern requirements, which, by the way, received the status of National Park, and will continue to remain the pride of the residents of the capital of Azerbaijan.