The Fireworshippers of Suruxani

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One of the things that everyone does when they come to Baku is travel to the suburb of Suruxani to visit the Zoroastrian "Ateshga" fire temple. Last Sunday we set out to have a look for ourselves.

Our first destination was the 28th May railway station. This proved a little frustrating as we were passed around from pillar to post before finally discovering that there were no electrica trains on a Sunday! Instead we jumped on the metro all the way out to Azizbayov station. From there we walked a few hundred yards in gale forced winds, protecting our eyes from the blasting sand and dust, to where the matrushka buses congregated.

We just missed a number 84 and had to wait about 10-15 minutes for another one. After that it's simple. You stay on the bus all the way to the end of the line. The passing suburbs are not exactly beautiful but interesting nonetheless. It took about half an hour to reach Suruxani where we were deposited alongside the train station. Just cross the tracks and turn left to reach the temple.

Outside the temple an interesting metalwork sculpture on a wall caught our eye. It's made a nice panoramic image to begin this blog with. Then we wandered into the temple unchallenged. The entry kiosk was unmanned and we had begun exploring before we were called back and asked to pay. We decided to pay to use the camera too as Russ really wanted some photos of this.

An eternal flame flickers inside a central stone shrine. Apparently it is no longer natural gas that supplies the fuel for this but a pipeline, the result of years of gas and oil extraction. We think it would probably be better to go at dusk when the flame is more visible. Sometimes you can be lucky and also see flames flying from the four surrounding chimneys. We were not!

Surrounding the shrine are a series of old pilgrim cells which now house various dioramas and museum exhibits. It was interesting to get a glimpse of what Zoroastrian life must have been like. Of particular interest were some sketches of the temple from the early 1900s, well before Baku's oil boom saw the city creep up to meet the temple area.

Getting the bus back to Baku was easy. We stayed on until the end of the route at Narimanov metro station. There we grabbed a quick doner kebab for lunch and found a bus heading to the city centre.

We enjoyed our day out but I don't think either of us felt it was quite the magical experience we had anticipated. Maybe if the wind was calmer and the sky was darker it would have been better. Hopefully we'll get the opportunity to go again when conditions are better. We'll let you know!!

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Photos

Inscriptions
But we're not sure which language it's in!

Pots and Rocks
In the museum

Comments

[anonymous]

I read somewhere that this is actually a Hindu temple rather than a Zoroastrian Temple.