Baku

Baku lies on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula. More than two million people live in the city and its settlements. It is one of the world's lowest capitals, lying below sea level.

The oil boom of the late 19th century turned a small fortress town into a world oil centre: the Nobel brothers and local industrialists such as Taghiyev and Mukhtarov filled it with European-style buildings, a theatre and a seaside boulevard. The Boulevard, the seaside National Park, was laid out in 1909.

Today Baku is both ancient and modern: the UNESCO-listed Old City, the Heydar Aliyev Center designed by Zaha Hadid and the Flame Towers glowing like fire at night. The city hosted the first European Games in 2015, Formula 1 races since 2016 and the UN COP29 climate conference in 2024.