The Atashgah Temple

The Ateshgyakh Fire-Worshippers' Temple is located within Greater Baku in the village of Surakhany (15 km from Baku). The historical roots of the monument go back to the hoary past, to the days when Azerbaijan statehood was only taking shape and establishing itself and Zoroastrianism, the central part in whose ritual is played by fire, was the dominant religion in the country. The flaming torches of gas escaping from under the ground and burning in many places all over the Apsheron Peninsula were believed to have miraculous divine power.

People worshipped fire, seeking its protection against adversity and oppression and begging it for happiness and well being. These ancient fires are believed to have given Azerbaijan its name, which is thought by some researchers to mean "a land of fires".
Centuries passed. Islam was adopted as the country's official religion. Medieval Azerbaijan carried on trade and exchanged cultural values with many countries. One of them was India. Indian trades- people brought to their home- land, where fire today is still regarded sacred, the news about the ever-burning Apsheron fires. From then on the Great Silk Road merchant caravans were followed by pilgrims flocking to the "sacred flames". Silk Road merchants, busy about their trade, did not stay long here.

They paid money to the local ruler for the right to build cells, prayer rooms, stables, and a guestroom (balakhane) at the temple. Thus it happened that these structures were built one after another for a century and a half, from the late 17th to the mid-19th century. That is why the Ateshgyakh Temple looks not unlike a regular town caravanserai - a kind of inn with a large central court, where caravans stopped for the night.

As distinct from caravanserais, however, the temple has the altar in its center with tiny cells for the temple's attendants - Indian ascetics who devoted themselves to the cult of fire - and for pilgrims lining the walls.

The inscriptions on stones set in the walls, made in Sanskrit and Hindi, testify to the Indian origin of the fire-worshippers' temple at Surakhany. In the course of time, the "eternal fires" of Apsheron ceased to be viewed as divine. The heat they give has been placed at the service of the people, and today gas serves people economic and every day needs. And only the place where the fires used to burn still remains in the memory of the people under the name of Ateshgyakh (home of fire). Today the temple is a unique monument of world culture.