Decorated dome
Patterns and calligraphy.
Sefer azeri — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Saida2025 — CC0 · Saida2025 — CC0 · Aykhan Zayedzadeh — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Frokor — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Aykhan Zayedzadeh — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Saida2025 — CC0 · Aykhan Zayedzadeh — CC BY-SA 4.0
One of Baku's main mosques, a Shia mosque in the city centre with a large dome and two slender minarets, now surrounded by a broad central park with water channels and fountains. Its name means «the new shrine». The site goes back to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when it held the tomb of the scholar and saint Abu Seyid Abdulla, which the people of Baku restored several times. Construction of the present mosque over the tomb began in 1905 and was completed in 1914, funded by the Azerbaijani philanthropist Nabat Khanum Ashurbeyova; it took more than nine years because of the financial and political difficulties of the time. Its building combines carved golden stone with fine Islamic ornament, and inside is a dome decorated with coloured patterns and Arabic calligraphy and large chandeliers. It fills for Friday prayers and religious occasions such as Ashura and the two Eids. Visiting is free, and visitors are generally welcome outside prayer times: dress modestly, women cover their hair, and everyone removes their shoes at the door. The central park lies in front of it, so the two combine easily.
Patterns and calligraphy.
In carved stone.
Water channels in front.
Yasamal district near Central Park, central Baku
Mukhtarov Palace (Palace of Happiness)A French Gothic-style palace in central Baku built in 1912 by oil baron Murtuza 6 minutes walk
Fountains Square and Nizami StreetThe liveliest square in central Baku, stretching from the Old City walls to Niza8 minutes walk4.5
Palace of the ShirvanshahsA fifteenth-century palace complex in the upper part of Baku's Old City, built b9 minutes walk4.5
Old City of Baku (Icherisheher)Baku's historic heart, a walled town on a hill above the Caspian bay, known in A9 minutes walk4.6
Nizami StreetBaku's best-known shopping and strolling street, running about three and a half 10 minutes walkVisitors are generally welcome outside prayer times, with modest dress, a headscarf for women and shoes removed.