What is nearby
At the foot of the tower lies a whole vanished world: a bazaar, baths and an ancient church.
The heart of the Old City
The Maiden Tower stands in Icherisheher — the walled Old City of Baku, itself part of the UNESCO heritage. Around it is a maze of narrow streets, caravanserais, baths, mosques and the Shirvanshahs' Palace. The tower was not a lone structure but part of a living urban core.
At its very foot archaeologists have uncovered a medieval bazaar square: rows of stalls and the remains of shops and workshops. Trade went on here for centuries, and the tower rose above the din of the market.
An apostle at the foot of the tower
By tradition it was here, by the Maiden Tower, that around the year 71 the apostle Bartholomew was martyred. In 1892 an Orthodox Church of St. Bartholomew was built on the spot to the design of the architect Johann Edel. In 1936, during the Soviet anti-religious campaign, it was demolished; the church's ruins were rediscovered by archaeologists in 1964. Every year on 24 June, the apostle's feast day, a prayer service is held at its remains.
A city of craft and trade
Near the tower medieval bath-houses (hammams), caravanserais and mosques survive. This was a dense urban setting: travellers, merchants, artisans — a whole world with the tower at its centre.
Everything a few steps away
Today you can walk it all in an hour: from the Maiden Tower to the bazaar square, the Shirvanshahs' Palace, the baths and the old mosques. Icherisheher remains a living quarter, where people still live among the monuments.