Ateshgah of Baku, Fire temple in Surakhany, Baku, Azerbaijan
Ateshgah is a temple in Surakhany, Surakhany raion in Baku, now serving as a museum. The complex forms a pentagon with stone defensive walls and houses a central altar surrounded by twenty-four cells.
The complex arose between the 17th and 18th centuries as a place for fire worshippers. The central section was completed in 1810 by the merchant Kantchanagar.
The name comes from the Persian word for fire and refers to a place of flame worship. Visitors today see cells with inscriptions in Sanskrit and Persian on the inner walls, left by different religious communities.
The temple sits roughly 30 kilometers (19 miles) from central Baku and remains open year-round. A visit typically takes one to two hours to explore the cells and courtyard.
The natural gas that once fed the flame escaped from seven surface vents, as noted by Engelbert Kaempfer in 1683. After the flame went out in 1969, the fire was maintained with piped gas. The site was nominated for UNESCO World Heritage status in 1998 by Gulnara Mehmandarova.
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