Maiden Tower - one of the ancient historical symbols of Baku

Baku, March 10, AZERTAC Maiden Tower is one of the ancient historical symbols of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, a unique example of national architecture. This historical ancient building is located in Baku, in the south-eastern part of the walls of the Ancient Fortress (Icharishahar), near the seaside park (boulevard). The height of the tower on the northern part is 31 m, on the south- 28 m. Despite the fact that it was built in the distant past, its amazing appearance, structure and proportions fully meet the criteria of beauty and aesthetics. Turning into the emblem of Baku, this fortress is one of the most magnificent, oldest and most mysterious monuments included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000. On the walls of the fortress reads an inscription in Arabic: "The Dome-Masud ibn Davud." Some researchers believe that this person was the feudal lord who built the Maiden Tower. Based on this inscription, scholars attribute the current visual appearance of the Maiden Tower to the 12th century. Some scholars suppose that Masud ibn Davud is the name of the architect who built the Tower. They rest this supposition on the inscription on a circular tower of the Mardakan fortress. The inscription on the Mardakan Tower says: "Architect Abd-Al-Majid ibn Masud ". The researchers believe the architect Abd-Al Majid was the son of the architect Masud who built the Maiden Tower. Also, it has been discovered that the inscription on the stone in the Maiden Tower was placed on the wall in a very careless way. The only entrance to the castle is through an arched gate on its west side, 2 m above the ground and 1.10 m wide. The castle has eight floors. The floors are built of hewn stones and covered with arched ceilings. There are circular gaps between the ceilings. The gaps are in the direction of the vertical line, and according to older residents, a person looking up from the first floor could see the sky through these gaps. The height of the first floor of the castle is 3 meters, and the height of the other floors is 2.5 meters on average. In addition to the first floor, the communication between the floors is maintained by means of steps built into the wall thickness. Previously, communication between the first two floors was carried out only by means of a rope ladder or rope from the circular space on the ceiling. In the past, there were several wells on the rock at the entrance to the gate. Starting from the second floor to the seventh floor, semicircular thrones were built in the thickness of the wall on the south-western side of the castle. An individual pipe with a length of 40-45 cm, a diameter of 25-30 cm and a wall thickness of 2.2 cm was laid inside them. The pipes are placed inside each other from top to bottom. The interlocking parts of these pipes are reinforced with lime mortar. This magnificent monument has survived the events of history and tests and survived to the present day. In 2014, the monument was restored and conserved, and a new, modern museum exposition meeting international standards was launched. The museum's exposition presents several versions of the purpose of the monument in a lively and interesting way using modern technologies.