Ateshgah of Baku

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The Ateschgah Fire Temple in Baku

The Ateschgah (also Ataschgah, Atashgah or Atəşgah) is a former fire temple in the Azerbaijani capital Baku , where Hindu rituals took place. It was built as a monastery complex in Surachani (Azerbaijani: Suraxanı ) in the 17th and 18th centuries . When oil production facilities in the vicinity began operating in 1883 , the facility was abandoned. The building complex has been a museum since 1975. In the literal translation, Ateschgah means "refuge of fire". The fire was fed by natural gas that escapes naturally.

History of the building

Actually the name indicates a fire temple of Zoroastrianism . On the other hand, there are inscriptions in Sanskrit and Punjabi ; various researchers point to a use by Hindus and Sikhs . Comparable temples can be found in Iran ( Isfahan ) and Georgia .

Inscriptions

There are numerous inscriptions on the walls: two at the entrance, one at the temple and 16 above the entrances to the cells. They are predominantly in Devanagari (or related scriptures), two in Gurmukhi (including root mantra from Guru Granth Sahib ) and one in Perso-Arabic . Some of them are dated; the earliest date is Samvat 1770 (1713 AD), the latest Samvat 1883 (1827 AD). A swastika can be seen on the inscription on the temple and on another . The inscription on the temple names Jvālā Jī , a north Indian fire goddess , at the end of the third line .

gallery

  • View of the temple around 1860

  • The Ateschgah in a historical illustration with Zoroastrian use

  • A postage stamp of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic from 1919 depicting the Ateshgah.

  • Another view of the temple

literature

  • Karl Eduard von Eichwald : Journey on the Caspian Sea and into the Caucasus . 2. Vol. Stuttgart & Thübingen 1834.
  • Philine von Oppeln, Gerald Hübner: Azerbaijan - On the way in the land of fire . Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-89794-124-3
  • Dirk M. Steinert: The inscriptions on the fire temple of Suraxanı (Baku, Azerbaijan). Images and background bibliography. 2012, pp. 1–29 ( online )

Web links

Commons : Ateschgah of Baku  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ateshgah Temple | Discover Azerbaijan. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 26, 2017 ; Retrieved May 3, 2017 (American English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.discoverazerbaijan.az
  2. ↑ Dirk M. Steinert, 2012

Coordinates: 40 ° 24 ′ 55.6 ″  N , 50 ° 0 ′ 31 ″  E