Surakhany, Atashgyakh

Although some 85% of the current Azerbaijani population is Shi’a Muslim, Zoroasterianism still plays an important part in the image the nation presents to the outside world. After Azerbaijan's independence from Soviet Union, the phrase “Land of Fire” was coined as the slogan to promote the country as a tourist destination. It reflects both the natural burning of surface oil deposits and the oil-fueled fires in Zoroastrian temples. So it’s no wonder that one of these temples is on the country’s Tentative List: the Ateshgah at Surakhani.

According to this informative website about Zoroastrian heritage, the tradition of ‘fire-houses’ started with the development of community fire houses that housed an ever burning flame. The flame was kept going by professional fire keepers. Members of the community would light their house fires from the central community fire. These fire-houses later evolved into temples, which also served as solar observatories in order to fix dates for festivals.

The Ateshgah (“home of fire”) at Surakhani lies about half an hour outside of Baku. On the way out there we first visited Yanar Dag. This is a good appetizer for the actual fire temple, as it is a place where natural gas has been burning continuously since 1957. It’s an odd place, not much more than a small hill with multiple flames coming out of its base. This natural phenomenon once was more common in the Absheron peninsula (as this region is called), hence the attraction for Zoroastrians.

The fire temple at Surakhani nowadays …