About the peninsula
A peninsula where fire comes straight out of the ground.
The Absheron Peninsula is the largest peninsula of the Caspian Sea. It stretches almost 60 kilometres eastward toward the sea, where the Greater Caucasus meets the Caspian. It is the “nose” of Azerbaijan, turned to the water.
Baku — the country’s capital and the largest city of the Caucasus — stands on the peninsula. Around it lie dozens of old villages, dachas, vineyards, fig orchards, salt lakes and oil fields, forming the unmistakable Absheron landscape.
It is a land of the elements. Winds blow over it almost constantly, its depths hold vast reserves of oil and gas, and in places the gas reaches the surface and burns by itself. It is because of these eternal fires that Azerbaijan is called the “Land of Fire”.
And yet Absheron has been inhabited for thousands of years: medieval castles, mosques, baths, the underground cisterns called ovdans and stone villages keep the memory of many eras. Here antiquity and the oil industry stand side by side at every step.
In brief
The peninsula in a few traits
Timeline
Absheron through time
From ancient fire-worshippers to offshore oil fields — a short timeline of the peninsula.
Land and seaNature
Wind, salt and the Caspian
Absheron is steppe and semi-desert, open to the sea on three sides. Strong winds blow here — the northern khazri and the southern gilavar — and salt lakes glisten in the hollows, one of which, Masazir, is coloured pink.
Despite its dryness, the peninsula is generous: Absheron figs, grapes, olives and rare saffron have long been famous across Azerbaijan.
Oil fieldsFire & oil
Where the earth itself burns
Absheron has been known for natural fire for centuries: gas escapes to the surface and burns tirelessly — as at Yanar Dag and the Ateshgah temple. The same gas and oil made Baku a centre of world oil history in the 19th–20th centuries.
The peninsula is still covered with oil derricks, and out in the open sea stands the legendary oil workers’ town — the Oil Rocks.
“Here the fire is not lit — it burns by itself, for thousands of years.”
Yanar Dag · The burning mountain
CastlesHeritage
Towers in the wind
Medieval keep-castles stand all across Absheron: at Mardakan (round and rectangular), at Ramana, at Nardaran. They guarded the villages against raids and served as refuges for the people.
Beside them are old mosques, baths and the underground cisterns called ovdans; whole villages have kept the Absheron stone look.
CaspianToday
Dachas, beaches and a park
Today Absheron is the suburbs of Baku, the dacha villages of Buzovna, Mardakan and Shuvelan, seaside resorts and the Absheron National Park at the very tip of the peninsula.
For the people of Baku, Absheron is a place for summer rest by the sea, figs from one’s own tree and an escape from the city bustle.
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