ATASHGAH ZOROASTRIAN TEMPLE

The Apsheron oil and natural gas deposits lie very close to the surface and outpourings of natural gas were frequent in the past before intensive extraction reduced the pressure in the underground reservoirs. In ancient times the accidentally ignited natural gas vents were considered to be divine. The Zoroastrian religion with its fire worship found its sacred land in Azerbaijan, the Land of Fire, with its flaming gas torches. Atashgah (meaning “home of the flames”) in the village Surakhany 10 miles from Baku is an ancient Zoroastrian temple that made use of this unique phenomenon as it is built on the site of a natural gas vent believed to have been worshipped since at least the 6th century AD although some accounts go back as far as 500 BC.

Little is actually known about the early history of the temple. The temple’s central structure is a rectangular “fire-chapel” built over a natural gas vent and open on four sides so that the whole structure was once filled with flame burning at its center. Pipes had been built into the chapel’s four corner pillars so that four plumes of fire used to come out at roof level. This magic sight was still there as late as 1970’s but since then the drop in underground gas pressure has reduced the flame in the center of the structure to the size of a campfire. The whole setting, however, does not fail to impress. Most of the current temple complex was built in XVII-XIX centuries, financed by the Indian Parsee Zoroastrian or (according to some sources) Hindu Brahmin fire-worshippers. Azerbaijan itself had become Islamic long before, but fire-worshippers would still come to Atashgah as a sacred place. Rooms and stables were therefore constructed to accommodate the pilgrims, many of whom came here specifically to die a saint’s death next to the site they considered to be the holiest of all.

Atashgah was famously visited and written about but Alexander Dumas. Later Indira Ghandi was there during her prolonged state visit to the Soviet Union and she alledgedly scolded Brezhnev about Atashgah’s sorry condition. So much so, that it put the Soviet leader to shame and he ordered the place restored. So join the celebrity club – the place is worth a look, and a tour with a resident guide leaves a lasting memory. Something in Atashgah makes the hair on your arms stand on end, we can’t quite place it but…. anyway - try it and write back – maybe you’ll figure it out.