Gallery
Description
Property Name: Maiden Tower – Qız Qalası
Inventory No: 994-12-2
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2008-02-25
Country (State party): Azerbaijan
Province : Baku
Town:
Geographic coordinates: 40° 21′ 58.17″ N
49° 50′ 14.01″ E
Historic Period:
Year of Construction: 12th century
Style: Shirvan Shahi
Original Use: Fortress
Current Use: Cultural
Architect: Mes’ud bin Davud
Significance
As being once a part of the city walls of the Old City of Baku, the Maiden’s Tower (Giz Galasy) is a round bastin tower dating back to 12th century. Its site is important for revealing evidence of Zoroastrian, Sasanian, Arabic, Persian, Shirvani, Ottoman, and Russian presence in cultural continuity in different structural methods used in its construction. Therefore, it was nominated to UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000, along with the Walled City of Baku and the Shirvan Shahs’ Palace.
Selection Criteria
iv. to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history
State of Preservation
It is claimed that the Maiden Tower was built in two different stages. Its foundations are dated to the 7th century while its shaft is thought to be built in the 12th century. According to the documentation of Russian military engineers at the beginning of the 19th century, the original structure of the tower was preserved except the alterations and reconstructions done on the roofs and the vaults. During the repairs done in the 19th century, the merlons (mashikuli) used for defense purposes disappeared from the top of the tower. It was last restored in the 1960s and it became a museum in 1964. In 2000, the city was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list along with the Baku Castle and Maiden’s Tower. Immediately after the earthquake in Baku in the same year, the monument was dropped to the list of endangered World Heritage monuments in 2003-2009. After that, additional measures for the restoration and conservation of the monument were passed and were removed from the list of nearly endangered monuments at UNESCO’s meeting on 1 February 2010.
References
Aslanapa, Oktay. Kirim ve Kuzey Azerbaycan’da Türk Eserleri. Baha Publishment, Istanbul, 1979.
Arık, Oluş. Orta Asya Mimarlık Mirasımızdan İzlenimler. Nurol Publishment, Ankara, 1994.
The Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah’s Palace and Maiden Tower. 2003. UNESCO World Heritage Center. Retrieved from http://whc.unesco.org/sites/958.html on February 25, 2008.
Maidens’ Tower. ArchNet. Retrieved from http://archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.jsp?site_id=9401 on February 25, 2008.