Travel spotlight: Azerbaijan's UNESCO World Heritage Old City

(11 May 2024)
AZERBAIJAN OLD CITY
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
RESTRICTIONS:
LENGTH: 6:32
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Baku, Azerbaijan - 27 April 2024
1. Wide of fortress wall
2. Various of people walking inside Old City
3. Wide of archaeological exploration site
4. Wide of people taking photos of archaeological exploration site
5. SOUNDBITE (Azerbaijani) Vafa Guliyeva, historian:
"The state of the Shirvanshahs existed from the 6th to the 16th centuries. Baku has always been a very important fortress for them. In the 12th century, after a devastating earthquake in the then-capital of Shemakha, the Shirvanshahs decided to move the capital to the Old City. Why? Because Baku was already a major trading hub."
6. Various of tourists at souvenir shops
7. Wide of street with souvenir shops, Maiden Tower at background
8. Street where Soviet movie "Diamond Arm" was filmed, person posing for photo sitting on ground imitating movie scene
9. Close of sign reading (Russian) "Cafe 'Diamond Arm'. Damn it!" ('Damn it!' is the quote from movie said at this scene)
10. Wide of person sitting down on ground for photo
11. SOUNDBITE (Azerbaijani) Vafa Guliyeva, historian:
"The Old City is a unique monument. This is the place where Baku began. Already in the 19th century, during the oil boom, Baku grew and expanded far beyond the fortress walls. By the way, it was then that the term Old City arose."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Baku, Azerbaijan - 28 April 2024
12. Various of Shirvanshah palace
13. Tourists entering palace
14. Various of Shirvanshah palace
15. Tourists walking out of historical building
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Baku, Azerbaijan - 27 April 2024
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Ilhama Kazumova, tour guide:
"Shirvanshah palace complex, it amazes the tourists and, get them struck with its magnificence, with the delicate stone carving look, stone inscription ornaments and with a light shadow effect caused by the succession of vertical and horizontal stone lines."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Baku, Azerbaijan - 28 April 2024
17. Various of Maiden Tower
18. Various of tourists near Maiden Tower
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Baku, Azerbaijan - 27 April 2024
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Ilhama Kazumova, tour guide:
"Maiden tower, at medieval times, this tower was included into the fortification system of the state and functioned as a defensive tower. And that's why, the more reasonable interpretation of its name is based on the fact that it was never captured by enemy in the times of war. And, as it was unconquerable, it was called Maiden tower as a symbol of inaccessibility."
20. Pan of residential house of craftsman Mir Teymur Mammadov
21. Various of artworks decorating house
22. Various of Mammadov talking to visitors
23. Various of ceramic works in Mammadov's workshop
24. SOUNDBITE (Azerbaijani) Mir Teymur Mammadov, artist, local resident:
"When Baku became the capital of Azerbaijan, religious representatives were the first to move to the Old City. They had veto power. They could allow or prohibit someone to live in the Old City. Family of Mirmovsum aga (famous religious figure), my family started living here. And then new people settled in the Old City. They founded a street of artisans. Then a street of bath assistants appeared."
25. Mammadov walking up stairs
26. Mammadov's assistant putting item on table
27. Close of Mammadov working
28. Close of item in Mammadov's hands as he takes it out of bowl with paint
29. SOUNDBITE (Azerbaijani) Mir Teymur Mammadov, artist, local resident:
30. Various of sign on wall of music restaurant reading "Mugam Klub"
31. Wide of restaurant interior
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