The Yanar Dag on Azerbaijan's Absheron Peninsula is known to have fire that has burned for 4,000 years and has never stopped. Even the rain, snow, and wind coming, the fire across a 10-meter stretch of hillside never stops burning, making a hot day even hotter.
Yanar Dag is one of several occurring fires to have fascinated travelers to Azerbaijan over the years. Marco Polo, a Venetian explorer, wrote of the phenomena when he passed through the country in the 13th century. Even merchants brought news of the flames as they would travel to other nations, and this is the reason why the country of Azerbaijan earned the title "Land of Fire."
Land of fire
Fires were once plentiful in Azerbaijan, but due to the reduction of gas pressure underground, interfering with commercial gas extraction, most have been snuffed out. Yanar Dag is one of the few remaining pits that tourists can visit. Fires played a key role in the ancient Zoroastrian religion, which was founded in Iran and thrived in Azerbaijan in the first millennium BCE.
Zoroastrians believe that fire is the link between humans and the supernatural world, and a medium through which spiritual insight and wisdom can be gained. Fire is a purifying, life-sustaining, and important part of their worship.
In recent times, most visitors who arrive at Yanar Dag come for the experience instead of religious fulfillment. The sight is said to be more impressive at night or in winter. When the snow falls, the flakes dissolve in the air without touching the ground. Despite the claim that the Yanar Dag flames were burning for thousands of years, some argue that it may only have been ignited in the 1950s.
Ateshgah Fire Temple
To know more about Azerbaijan's history of fire worship, tourists could head east of Baku to Ateshgah Fire Temple. Since ancient times, believers think that their god resides in the temple. The pentagonal complex was built in the 17th and 18th centuries by Indian settlers in Baku.
The fire rituals in the site date back to the 10th century or earlier. The name Ateshgah means "home of fire" in Persian and the centerpiece of the temple is a cupola-topped alter shrine that was built upon a natural gas vent.
A natural flame burned on the central altar until 1969, but these days the fire is fed from Baku's main gas supply and is only lit for tourists and local visitors. The Ateshgah Fire Temple is linked to Zoroastrianism but it is a Hindu place of worship that its history is better documented.
The complex is built like a caravanserai-style travelers' inn, and it has a walled courtyard surrounded by 24 cells and rooms. These were used by pilgrims, passing merchants and resident ascetics, some of whom submitted themselves to ordeals such as lying on caustic quicklime, wearing heavy chains, or keeping an arm in one position for years.
The temple is no longer used as a place of worship and it fell out since the late 19th century, at a time when the development of the surrounding oil fields meant that veneration of Mammon was gaining a stronger hold. The complex was named a museum in 1975 and was nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998.
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