dynamic, multi-lingual and globally minded
Few cities in the world are changing so rapidly, and it’s hard to think of any other city where East and West mix so seamlessly as in Azerbaijan’s fascinating capital. The population comes from a remarkable human melting pot that straddles four great cultures –Turkic, European, Russian and Persian – all seamlessly integrated within a harmonious whole. Historic ties with the ancient Silk Roads reinforce an outward looking attitude underlined by Baku’s international importance as a petroleum and business city, a role that it has held for well over a century. Visually too, the city has a very cosmopolitan air – classically graceful stone buildings and pedestrianized tree-lined stroll-streets contrasting with a wealth of 21st-century structures, some of them jaw dropping masterpieces of global stature. The result is a city that is at once comfortable in its own identity but open to a wide range of global influences, ready for business and thoroughly multilingual.