The Mystery of the Maiden Tower

The Maiden Tower is a Baku landmark, a much loved symbol of the city and of Azerbaijan. It looms dark and enigmatic, looking out to sea from the southern edge of Baku´s old, walled city, the Icheri Sheher. The origins of the tower are shrouded in mystery - no-one knows for certain when it was built or what it was built for or even how it acquired its name Maiden Tower (Qiz qalasi). No written sources survive that record its construction or original function.

Baku historian Sara Ashurbayli calculated that the tower must have been built in the 4th to 6th centuries AD. This was because of the tower’s unusual construction, the difference between the stone used in the tower and the stone of the medieval city surrounding it and the various legends about the Maiden Tower.

Another group of researchers think that the tower was built in the 11th century. The reason is the inscription 14 metres high on the south wall of the tower which reads Qubbeye Masud ibn Davud in old Arabic script^[1]. Epigraphist Mashadikhanim Nemat studied the inscription and explained the word qübbə as qüllə or tower, so Masud ibn Davud would have been the tower’s architect. The architect of the 14th century Mardakan Tower, Abdulmajid ibn Masud, is thought to be his descendant^[2].

STONE TALE OF BAKU

They say even the walls help make a home… They are familiar and strong supports. They promise cosiness and safety. This can be said of both house and whole city walls.

300 years ago Baku was surrounded by a double set of walls on the landside, and a single wall separated it from the sea. Before joining the Russian empire, the city was practically fully enclosed within its fortified walls and surrounded by a deep moat. But Baku has “escaped” from the fortress, expanding beyond it and continues to grow. And the old part of the city, Icheri Sheher (Inner City) has remained a historic reserve, where people come to enjoy the silence, the gorgeous primeval architecture and to find out more about the roots. There are monuments to antiquity everywhere in Icheri Sheher- the mosques, baths and the simple houses. But even the walls that embrace the old city deserve special attention.