Ateshgah – the fire temple

Atesgah, the fire temple in Suraxani, a suburb of Baku, is said to be in the tradition of Zoroastrianism, however the information I found so far is not so clear. The name Ateshgah refers to the Persian word Atash, which means fire. The temple was built in the late 17th and early 18th century by Hindu merchants, who by that time were an important group in Baku’s economy. The trident on top of the main structure is either referred to as Hindu or Zoroastrian symbol.

At the time the temple was built oil exploitation was at its beginning and still natural gas emanated from the soil and fed into permanent fires of the temple. With the exploitation of oil on the Absheron peninsula the gas pressure dropped and nowadays the fire is fed by a gas pipe.

Though Ateshgah is a prime touristic attraction in Baku and Azerbaijan and it was recently renovated and is now a well-maintained premise, only a few visitors find their way to here.

The major structure is the altar in the center of a walled yard. It has a squared structure with a trident on its top and a central fire in the center. In old pictures the four little fire places on the top also burn.

The wall hosts small rooms, similar to monk cells in European monasteries and they host artifacts and dummies that give an idea of the times of the Indian merchants. From these little cells one has nice views on the yard, its fires and the entrance to the temple premise.

The walls and some of the buildings are covered with scriptures, where some look like Hindi, others are more difficult to affiliate.

That Atesgah is still within an area of active oil exploitation is only suggested by the top of an oil rig behind the wall.