1 00:00:04,500 --> 00:00:08,100 Three spectacular ancient cities. 2 00:00:08,100 --> 00:00:10,420 Each on the crossroads of cultures. 3 00:00:12,180 --> 00:00:13,500 I'm Janina Ramirez. 4 00:00:14,860 --> 00:00:16,500 And I'm Alastair Sooke. 5 00:00:17,780 --> 00:00:22,820 In this series, we'll be discovering the artistic influences that shaped the stories of 6 00:00:23,060 --> 00:00:25,620 Beirut, Lisbon and Baku. 7 00:00:27,100 --> 00:00:30,940 Helping make them some of the world's most exciting destinations. 8 00:00:30,940 --> 00:00:33,660 Hi! 9 00:00:33,660 --> 00:00:37,860 We'll delve into centuries of rich culture and tradition. 10 00:00:37,860 --> 00:00:41,140 This place tells us a story that goes back two millennia. 11 00:00:41,140 --> 00:00:45,900 And experience how art is reinvigorating the cities today. 12 00:00:45,900 --> 00:00:48,660 We'll encounter breathtaking sights... 13 00:00:48,660 --> 00:00:51,660 It's quite overblown, isn't it? It's totally overblown. 14 00:00:51,660 --> 00:00:53,140 ..and discover hidden gems. 15 00:00:53,140 --> 00:00:54,580 Wow! 16 00:00:54,580 --> 00:00:59,620 In this film, we'll be exploring the art and culture of Baku, 17 00:00:59,620 --> 00:01:03,260 capital of Azerbaijan, the land of fire. 18 00:01:03,260 --> 00:01:06,660 Home to the oldest oilfields on Earth. 19 00:01:06,660 --> 00:01:10,980 And to musical traditions that reach back into the Persian past. 20 00:01:10,980 --> 00:01:15,700 It's a former Soviet republic, independent since 1991. 21 00:01:15,700 --> 00:01:18,620 And it's modernising at breakneck speed, 22 00:01:18,620 --> 00:01:21,460 with towers made to look like flames. 23 00:01:21,460 --> 00:01:24,620 And structures that resemble nothing else on Earth. 24 00:01:25,820 --> 00:01:28,060 In Baku, Europe meets Asia. 25 00:01:29,460 --> 00:01:33,740 The 19th-century oilmen of Baku spent their fortunes on buildings so 26 00:01:33,740 --> 00:01:38,300 European that Baku was known as the Paris of the Caucasus. 27 00:01:38,300 --> 00:01:42,020 But we'll also see medieval Islamic arches, 28 00:01:42,020 --> 00:01:46,180 art that riffs on the Asian traditions of carpet making. 29 00:01:46,180 --> 00:01:49,740 Art that reflects the grim realities of Soviet life. 30 00:01:49,740 --> 00:01:52,220 It feels so special to see this up close. 31 00:01:52,220 --> 00:01:55,300 Cemeteries that seems strangely joyful. 32 00:01:55,300 --> 00:02:00,340 He could just jump off that plinth and start singing any second. 33 00:02:00,940 --> 00:02:05,020 And art that criticises the current state of the nation. 34 00:02:05,020 --> 00:02:10,060 I don't want to make people happy by my art. It's not my duty. 35 00:02:10,900 --> 00:02:14,020 Because Azerbaijan is an authoritarian state 36 00:02:14,020 --> 00:02:16,820 where cultural life is tightly controlled. 37 00:02:16,820 --> 00:02:19,420 So, not our regular city break. 38 00:02:19,420 --> 00:02:22,180 But Baku is a city keen to be noticed. 39 00:02:22,180 --> 00:02:24,540 It wants to be a part of Europe. 40 00:02:24,540 --> 00:02:27,620 It wants to be a tourist destination. In fact, 41 00:02:27,620 --> 00:02:32,460 sometimes you could be forgiven for thinking that it wants to be London. 42 00:02:45,500 --> 00:02:48,460 Well, we are in a London cab. 43 00:02:48,460 --> 00:02:51,340 This is totally, totally surreal. 44 00:02:51,340 --> 00:02:53,660 I mean, I really wasn't expecting this. 45 00:02:53,660 --> 00:02:55,980 I think they are called here eggplants, 46 00:02:55,980 --> 00:02:58,820 that is the nickname because of the aubergine colour on the outside. 47 00:02:58,820 --> 00:03:02,980 And, apparently, the city authorities here bought a job lot 48 00:03:02,980 --> 00:03:06,100 of these London taxis back in 2012. 49 00:03:06,100 --> 00:03:09,340 Yeah, they bought a thousand of them for the Eurovision Song Contest 50 00:03:09,340 --> 00:03:11,940 because they wanted to be able to drive all their visitors, 51 00:03:11,940 --> 00:03:14,900 all their guests and dignitaries around in luxury. 52 00:03:16,140 --> 00:03:20,140 Cheers! Thanks so much. Bye, then. Bye, now. Bye! 53 00:03:20,140 --> 00:03:22,620 Wow, look at these stairs! 54 00:03:26,460 --> 00:03:28,380 Incredibly grand staircase. 55 00:03:28,380 --> 00:03:31,820 Now, it is, I hear it is many, many steps, more than it looks. 56 00:03:31,820 --> 00:03:33,460 Right. So we have got a long walk up. 57 00:03:33,460 --> 00:03:37,860 It's not as though Baku's lacking in luxury anyway. 58 00:03:37,860 --> 00:03:40,860 These stairs feel like something from a Hollywood epic. 59 00:03:40,860 --> 00:03:43,980 OK, getting closer! 60 00:03:43,980 --> 00:03:46,660 Oh, you can start to see the Caspian. 61 00:03:46,660 --> 00:03:49,420 Yes! Ooh, views of the sea! 62 00:03:51,860 --> 00:03:55,060 Baku sits on the western edge of the Caspian Sea. 63 00:03:55,060 --> 00:03:57,740 In Azerbaijan, Asia meets Europe. 64 00:03:57,740 --> 00:04:01,460 It shares borders with Russia, Armenia and Iran. 65 00:04:01,460 --> 00:04:06,460 In fact, until 1828, it was part of Iran, or Persia, as it was then known. 66 00:04:10,780 --> 00:04:13,700 We're here. Uh-huh. My legs hurt. 67 00:04:14,740 --> 00:04:18,460 So, loads of high-rises, lots of kind of gleaming, new architecture. 68 00:04:18,460 --> 00:04:20,020 That's what I was expecting to see. 69 00:04:20,020 --> 00:04:23,300 Really? You know, money flowing into the country, the whole oil boom, 70 00:04:23,300 --> 00:04:26,340 a lot of building. I mean, the Flame Towers. 71 00:04:26,340 --> 00:04:29,660 But I was looking forward to see... Oh, there it is. There's the medieval old town. 72 00:04:29,660 --> 00:04:33,060 Where? Ah. You see, I'm excited about that. The higgledy-piggledy bit. Yes! 73 00:04:33,060 --> 00:04:34,900 Your favourite part to any city. 74 00:04:34,900 --> 00:04:37,260 SHE LAUGHS Find the medieval. 75 00:04:37,260 --> 00:04:40,260 Yeah, but you can see how it's grown out from there and spread. 76 00:04:40,260 --> 00:04:43,300 Yeah. It's quite the gleaming metropolis now, isn't it? 77 00:04:44,700 --> 00:04:47,740 But there's one very important reason we've come up here - 78 00:04:47,740 --> 00:04:51,340 to see what's been removed from this magnificent viewpoint. 79 00:04:53,100 --> 00:04:55,860 This is going to surprise you, I've actually done some homework. 80 00:04:55,860 --> 00:04:58,500 No way! On the net, I found some footage, which is incredible, 81 00:04:58,500 --> 00:05:01,340 this. Look, there you go. So, here's the statue. Oh, God, it's enormous! 82 00:05:01,340 --> 00:05:02,820 Yeah. 83 00:05:02,820 --> 00:05:06,060 And you have to imagine this enormous statue, this massive, 84 00:05:06,060 --> 00:05:07,700 massive granite plinth, 85 00:05:07,700 --> 00:05:10,700 and then on top, this bronze, very overly heroic, 86 00:05:10,700 --> 00:05:13,620 probably he didn't look anything like this at all, 87 00:05:13,620 --> 00:05:16,900 man gesturing out, and, of course, it's not here any more. 88 00:05:16,900 --> 00:05:19,780 The statue was of a man called Sergey Kirov, 89 00:05:19,780 --> 00:05:24,820 one of the Soviet leaders responsible for annexing Azerbaijan for the Soviet Union in 1920. 90 00:05:25,620 --> 00:05:28,940 But by 1934, he'd become too popular. 91 00:05:28,940 --> 00:05:31,940 In the election for general secretary of that year, 92 00:05:31,940 --> 00:05:35,100 he got more votes than Stalin. 93 00:05:35,100 --> 00:05:36,540 Big mistake. 94 00:05:36,540 --> 00:05:39,820 Stalin felt quite threatened, so this guy, Kirov, 95 00:05:39,820 --> 00:05:42,980 ends up in Leningrad and he gets shot in the back of the neck, 96 00:05:42,980 --> 00:05:46,220 he's killed. And then Stalin attends his funeral. 97 00:05:46,220 --> 00:05:48,500 Five days later. I mean, it's a hypocrisy. 98 00:05:48,500 --> 00:05:50,580 A quintessential Soviet story. 99 00:05:50,580 --> 00:05:52,540 And then the final irony, 100 00:05:52,540 --> 00:05:55,860 Moscow orders the construction of the statue for the man they had 101 00:05:55,860 --> 00:05:57,180 assassinated. 102 00:05:57,180 --> 00:06:01,340 When Azerbaijan wins its independence in the early '90s, 103 00:06:01,340 --> 00:06:05,460 of course, that statue, this emblem of the Soviet state, dismantled. 104 00:06:10,180 --> 00:06:13,340 Oh, my goodness, the head's coming off. So, decapitated. 105 00:06:13,340 --> 00:06:16,620 This is the moment of Azerbaijani self-expression, 106 00:06:16,620 --> 00:06:17,980 in a sense, isn't it? 107 00:06:17,980 --> 00:06:21,740 I think it was a huge moment when they got their independence, 108 00:06:21,740 --> 00:06:24,900 and this is very symbolic, to deconstruct it like this. 109 00:06:24,900 --> 00:06:26,220 This is almost surreal. 110 00:06:26,220 --> 00:06:28,740 This reminds me of sort of Monty Python animation with his head 111 00:06:28,740 --> 00:06:31,020 bobbing around against the backdrop of the city. 112 00:06:33,820 --> 00:06:38,060 In Baku, we're going to see evidence of what isn't here, 113 00:06:38,060 --> 00:06:41,620 or what has been removed, or what has been adapted, or what's been changed. 114 00:06:41,620 --> 00:06:44,420 We're going to have to look for traces of things. 115 00:06:44,420 --> 00:06:46,980 The stories aren't always going to be as self-evident, 116 00:06:46,980 --> 00:06:50,220 so I think we need to kind of keep on top of what we might find hidden. 117 00:06:54,380 --> 00:06:59,420 One thing, though, isn't hidden at all. The Soviets came here in 1920, 118 00:06:59,700 --> 00:07:03,140 seeking just one essential resource - oil. 119 00:07:03,140 --> 00:07:05,220 And that's what we are going to explore first. 120 00:07:08,060 --> 00:07:12,620 The oilfields are so central to Baku's history that I have to see them. 121 00:07:12,620 --> 00:07:15,580 They're just ten minutes' drive from the heart of the city. 122 00:07:15,580 --> 00:07:18,860 Oil money has transformed Baku twice. 123 00:07:18,860 --> 00:07:23,700 The world's first true oil well was sunk here in 1846. 124 00:07:23,700 --> 00:07:28,740 So Baku was ready for the invention of the petrol engine and the motor car. 125 00:07:29,020 --> 00:07:32,940 There was this international thirst for oil, 126 00:07:32,940 --> 00:07:37,060 and it became a sort of black, oozing liquid money 127 00:07:37,060 --> 00:07:39,340 that was just everywhere. 128 00:07:39,340 --> 00:07:42,340 You could dig and it would start to spurt up. 129 00:07:42,340 --> 00:07:44,660 It was something that could be marketed, 130 00:07:44,660 --> 00:07:49,380 that was the beginning of this great industrialised landscape that you still see in Baku today. 131 00:07:53,140 --> 00:07:57,580 It was an economic miracle and an ecological disaster, 132 00:07:57,580 --> 00:08:01,220 but the extraordinary profits created a new class in Baku - 133 00:08:01,220 --> 00:08:06,060 the oil barons. And without those oil barons, I'd be underwater now. 134 00:08:06,060 --> 00:08:08,820 That's how incredibly ambitious they were. 135 00:08:08,820 --> 00:08:12,460 When they discovered there was oil beneath this part of the Caspian, 136 00:08:12,460 --> 00:08:15,500 they reclaimed several square kilometres from the sea. 137 00:08:18,860 --> 00:08:23,620 The amazing thing is, you can really smell the oil as it's being drilled 138 00:08:23,620 --> 00:08:26,300 and produced and brought out of the ground. 139 00:08:29,060 --> 00:08:32,140 Today, the nodding donkeys run unsupervised. 140 00:08:33,780 --> 00:08:37,620 But in the early days, it was donkeys made of flesh and blood that 141 00:08:37,620 --> 00:08:41,020 drew the oil to the surface, and there was always the risk of fire. 142 00:08:52,100 --> 00:08:54,500 There's something quite surreal about this. 143 00:08:54,500 --> 00:08:56,340 Next to this nodding donkey, 144 00:08:56,340 --> 00:09:01,300 there is a slightly battered metal drum containing the stuff itself. 145 00:09:01,580 --> 00:09:03,860 This is all oil. 146 00:09:03,860 --> 00:09:08,100 Like a great big vat of balsamic vinegar. Look at this. 147 00:09:14,460 --> 00:09:18,420 The early oil barons of Baku had become immensely wealthy. 148 00:09:18,420 --> 00:09:21,380 To find out what they did with their money, I've been told that 149 00:09:21,380 --> 00:09:24,980 historian and TV presenter Fuad Akhundov is the man to meet. 150 00:09:28,220 --> 00:09:30,860 Fuad, how lovely to see you! 151 00:09:30,860 --> 00:09:35,220 Good to see you, Nina. Welcome to Baku. Good to see you. Thank you! I am... 152 00:09:35,220 --> 00:09:39,220 Looking at this building now behind us, it is absolutely beautiful, but, 153 00:09:39,220 --> 00:09:41,340 to me, it looks pretty incongruous. 154 00:09:41,340 --> 00:09:43,140 It looks different. Why? 155 00:09:43,140 --> 00:09:48,180 Well, in fact, it is a little replica of Monte Carlo in Baku, 156 00:09:48,860 --> 00:09:50,660 that was a local casino. 157 00:09:50,660 --> 00:09:53,780 Oh, right. And this is the famous casino in Monte Carlo. 158 00:09:53,780 --> 00:09:56,900 Oh, yes! The time it was built was the period of oil boom, 159 00:09:56,900 --> 00:09:59,300 when the city of Baku was making, gosh, 160 00:09:59,300 --> 00:10:02,340 half of the world's output in oil in 1901. 161 00:10:02,340 --> 00:10:05,180 Amazing. And oil barons were kind of crazy guys. 162 00:10:05,180 --> 00:10:08,420 They really wanted to make the city not only rich but flamboyant! 163 00:10:08,420 --> 00:10:13,460 Right. They were really two towns in one in Baku, like kernel in a nut. 164 00:10:13,580 --> 00:10:16,180 Right. So, outside the old wall, 165 00:10:16,180 --> 00:10:20,500 you had a typical European city with a beautifully made grid, 166 00:10:20,500 --> 00:10:24,500 with its streets straight and wide, with its houses nice and tall, 167 00:10:24,500 --> 00:10:28,380 with its people noisy and greedy for money, like today. 168 00:10:30,180 --> 00:10:34,780 The oil barons spent their money on mansions based on European models. 169 00:10:34,780 --> 00:10:37,340 Baku became known as the Paris of the Caucasus, 170 00:10:37,340 --> 00:10:40,940 but not all of the buildings they drew from were actually Parisian. 171 00:10:44,700 --> 00:10:46,620 Ah! We're in Venice. 172 00:10:46,620 --> 00:10:51,660 You really are, Nina. Yeah! I like your orientation sense because 173 00:10:51,980 --> 00:10:54,540 this is a kind of Bakuvian Venice. 174 00:10:54,540 --> 00:10:56,860 This is the building of the Muslim Charitable Society, 175 00:10:56,860 --> 00:10:59,220 which now is the headquarters of the Academy of Sciences. 176 00:10:59,220 --> 00:11:01,500 Yet, this is Ca' d'Oro. 177 00:11:01,500 --> 00:11:03,740 I know, look at that, the shapes, everything. 178 00:11:03,740 --> 00:11:06,540 But, once again, they didn't copy-paste it. 179 00:11:06,540 --> 00:11:11,020 And the whole building was ordered by the richest, you can imagine. 180 00:11:11,020 --> 00:11:14,740 Yeah! But reportedly, this dangerous local oil baron, 181 00:11:14,740 --> 00:11:18,740 Musa Naghiyev, who had the reason to be close-fisted because the guy wasn't born with 182 00:11:18,740 --> 00:11:21,820 a silver spoon in his mouth. He started from digging wells. 183 00:11:21,820 --> 00:11:26,700 So, is he getting rich, then, because he's found oil on land he already owns? How does this work? 184 00:11:26,700 --> 00:11:29,020 Well, actually... No, in most of the cases, 185 00:11:29,020 --> 00:11:32,780 they started from bailing the wells, which was a horrible job, 186 00:11:32,780 --> 00:11:37,260 and when it came with gas, the guys on top had to take out immediately because otherwise they've got 187 00:11:37,260 --> 00:11:40,020 a dead body. Of course! So the mortality was quite high. 188 00:11:40,020 --> 00:11:43,460 But, when private people like these guys could buy a piece of land, 189 00:11:43,460 --> 00:11:46,780 and if you were lucky enough to get a gusher like this, and some gushers 190 00:11:46,780 --> 00:11:49,660 were given names like Wet Nurse, Golden Bazaar, Devil Bazaar... 191 00:11:49,660 --> 00:11:51,460 SHE LAUGHS Oh, my gosh. 192 00:11:51,460 --> 00:11:53,420 ..and so on. 193 00:11:53,420 --> 00:11:57,300 You woke up a millionaire, so it was these crazy fortunes 194 00:11:57,300 --> 00:12:00,140 that actually were flaunted into the streets of Baku 195 00:12:00,140 --> 00:12:02,780 in the shape of these magnificent edifices, 196 00:12:02,780 --> 00:12:06,020 because each oil baron wanted to outdo another one. 197 00:12:08,180 --> 00:12:12,340 And so Baku became ever more luxuriously European, 198 00:12:12,340 --> 00:12:15,620 until the collapse of the Russian Empire at the end of World War I. 199 00:12:17,660 --> 00:12:21,780 And then, in 1920, the Bolsheviks came a-conquering, 200 00:12:21,780 --> 00:12:23,740 desperate to secure Baku's oil. 201 00:12:26,860 --> 00:12:30,780 I'm meeting Alastair outside a Soviet building that still stands. 202 00:12:33,420 --> 00:12:36,340 20th-century building, neoclassical, have a look at the top. 203 00:12:36,340 --> 00:12:39,180 It could be the sort of element of a Greek temple, 204 00:12:39,180 --> 00:12:40,540 and then the odd detail 205 00:12:40,540 --> 00:12:43,740 which is a completely different language altogether. 206 00:12:43,740 --> 00:12:47,060 It's actually fascinating because, you know, we've seen examples 207 00:12:47,060 --> 00:12:49,540 already of that Soviet history being erased after 208 00:12:49,540 --> 00:12:53,300 Azerbaijan becomes independent, famously the Kirov statue. 209 00:12:53,300 --> 00:12:55,020 Here we've got something different. 210 00:12:55,020 --> 00:12:58,780 This is a building from the Soviet era that's been allowed to survive, 211 00:12:58,780 --> 00:13:01,220 and it's the former Lenin Museum. 212 00:13:01,220 --> 00:13:03,940 So, at some point, '50s, this arrives, 213 00:13:03,940 --> 00:13:07,340 it's built, and inside it's devoted to Lenin's life and works. 214 00:13:07,340 --> 00:13:09,940 I suppose it's because you'd recognise this style anywhere 215 00:13:09,940 --> 00:13:12,460 in the world, whether you're in Washington or London, 216 00:13:12,460 --> 00:13:17,420 this is the architecture that, you know, decisions are made within, that people learn within, 217 00:13:17,620 --> 00:13:19,820 it's got all that grandeur to it. 218 00:13:19,820 --> 00:13:23,300 There's a clear message that a building like this projects. 219 00:13:26,100 --> 00:13:28,500 But not all Soviet buildings here are the same, 220 00:13:28,500 --> 00:13:30,540 as I am beginning to notice. 221 00:13:30,540 --> 00:13:32,900 Among the often overbearing grandeur, 222 00:13:32,900 --> 00:13:36,220 there are touches of the eccentric and strange. 223 00:13:36,220 --> 00:13:38,980 We're going for a cup of tea at the Pearl Cafe, 224 00:13:38,980 --> 00:13:43,500 two minutes' walk from the Lenin Museum, slap bang on the seafront. 225 00:13:43,500 --> 00:13:45,420 It's a Soviet-era building, 226 00:13:45,420 --> 00:13:49,100 but it was built in the late '60s and it's great fun. 227 00:13:49,100 --> 00:13:53,660 A little holiday made of cast concrete, mosaic and pebbles, 228 00:13:53,660 --> 00:13:56,020 designed to tell you that you're having a lovely time. 229 00:13:57,540 --> 00:13:59,740 Ah, here comes the tea. 230 00:13:59,740 --> 00:14:02,500 The tea, oh, and we've got a cream tea, there's some jam. 231 00:14:02,500 --> 00:14:04,340 Oh, my goodness. And are they scones? 232 00:14:04,340 --> 00:14:07,100 This looks great. Not quite. A nice little snack there as well. 233 00:14:08,620 --> 00:14:10,340 And a lot of sugar. 234 00:14:10,340 --> 00:14:13,180 Yes. Thanks. Perfect. 235 00:14:14,580 --> 00:14:19,180 Nina's Polish background means she's already familiar with different ways 236 00:14:19,180 --> 00:14:20,820 of doing tea. 237 00:14:20,820 --> 00:14:23,340 I turn to her for advice. 238 00:14:23,340 --> 00:14:27,260 Now, the bit... Thanks very much. The bit I don't get, 239 00:14:27,260 --> 00:14:30,740 does the jam relate to the incredibly sweet baklava-like thing, 240 00:14:30,740 --> 00:14:34,020 or somehow does it relate to the tea? It relates to the tea. Now, 241 00:14:34,020 --> 00:14:36,540 I have found out a bit about what we're supposed to do. 242 00:14:36,540 --> 00:14:38,500 So, there's two ways to do this. 243 00:14:38,500 --> 00:14:40,940 Obviously, you can see the tea, you don't have milk. Mm-hm. 244 00:14:40,940 --> 00:14:45,300 And... You can have a lemon. You can... In fact, I will... So far, quite standard, yeah. 245 00:14:45,300 --> 00:14:47,140 I will put some lemon in. Want a piece of lemon? 246 00:14:47,140 --> 00:14:49,380 Absolutely. And then you put some jam... 247 00:14:49,380 --> 00:14:52,740 Not in the tea? No, on the side, like this. 248 00:14:54,140 --> 00:14:55,500 Go on, you've got to have a bit. 249 00:14:55,500 --> 00:14:57,900 OK, so, let's get a couple of strawberries, yeah? 250 00:14:57,900 --> 00:15:01,740 Yeah, OK? Take a little bit of jam on your teaspoon. 251 00:15:01,740 --> 00:15:03,740 Oh, gosh, I can't break that. 252 00:15:03,740 --> 00:15:05,020 Mix it in? No. 253 00:15:05,020 --> 00:15:06,500 Don't put it in the drink. 254 00:15:06,500 --> 00:15:09,140 Put it in your mouth. Oh, you put it in your mouth? 255 00:15:09,140 --> 00:15:12,300 Right, fine, I can do that. Then you strain the tea through it. 256 00:15:12,300 --> 00:15:13,820 OK? Oh, so you don't swallow? 257 00:15:13,820 --> 00:15:15,980 No. This is the idea? Right. Jam in, sip. 258 00:15:17,220 --> 00:15:21,060 And kind of suck. All right. I mean, it's lovely jam. 259 00:15:21,060 --> 00:15:25,060 Mmm! Mmm, that's good. That is nice. 260 00:15:25,060 --> 00:15:27,580 It is quite sick... It is quite sickly. 261 00:15:27,580 --> 00:15:30,100 No, I like it. And when are you allowed to swallow 262 00:15:30,100 --> 00:15:31,540 the strawberry? This is weird! 263 00:15:31,540 --> 00:15:33,500 SHE LAUGHS 264 00:15:33,500 --> 00:15:36,620 It's a good combo, I like it. Anyway, I'm going to have a bit more jam with my tea. 265 00:15:36,620 --> 00:15:37,900 SHE LAUGHS 266 00:15:40,380 --> 00:15:44,340 We want to look deeper into Baku's past. 267 00:15:44,340 --> 00:15:47,900 We've been told that the tradition of carpet-making is fundamental to 268 00:15:47,900 --> 00:15:51,060 Baku, and that's what we want to explore next. 269 00:15:53,060 --> 00:15:57,100 While Alistair heads for the Carpet Museum, I'm going to meet an artist, 270 00:15:57,100 --> 00:16:00,980 Faig Ahmed, whose work challenges the entire tradition 271 00:16:00,980 --> 00:16:02,300 of carpet-making. 272 00:16:02,300 --> 00:16:05,660 And this time, I'm travelling Soviet-style. 273 00:16:05,660 --> 00:16:08,460 And I am in a Lada. 274 00:16:08,460 --> 00:16:11,740 Now, these are an echo of past Soviet times 275 00:16:11,740 --> 00:16:15,100 when all of the taxis would have looked like this. 276 00:16:15,100 --> 00:16:17,620 It is a bit of a retro way to get around. 277 00:16:17,620 --> 00:16:19,300 I personally like it. 278 00:16:19,300 --> 00:16:20,740 I'm not sure about the safety. 279 00:16:20,740 --> 00:16:24,780 No seat belts, no mod cons at all. 280 00:16:24,780 --> 00:16:27,500 But, hey, it is a flavour of old Azerbaijan, I think. 281 00:16:29,540 --> 00:16:33,100 It's rather fascinating because Faig's workshop 282 00:16:33,100 --> 00:16:38,140 is a little way outside the city centre, so what I am getting is a whistle-stop tour 283 00:16:38,860 --> 00:16:41,580 of exactly how far the glittering, 284 00:16:41,580 --> 00:16:45,380 no-expense-spared city of Baku really extends. 285 00:16:47,300 --> 00:16:49,220 And it isn't very far. 286 00:16:49,220 --> 00:16:53,340 Soon enough, I'm driving down the roads where, as far as I can see, 287 00:16:53,340 --> 00:16:55,460 no expense has been spent at all. 288 00:17:00,820 --> 00:17:01,820 Ah! 289 00:17:03,340 --> 00:17:05,020 Still, nice drive. 290 00:17:06,420 --> 00:17:07,780 Nice driver, too. 291 00:17:10,980 --> 00:17:13,060 Thank you! 292 00:17:13,060 --> 00:17:14,780 I love this car. 293 00:17:14,780 --> 00:17:16,660 SHE LAUGHS Thank you. 294 00:17:20,060 --> 00:17:22,700 Faig shares this extraordinary space. 295 00:17:22,700 --> 00:17:24,380 It's not all about art. 296 00:17:24,380 --> 00:17:28,100 Traditional carpets are made here too, and in Azerbaijan, 297 00:17:28,100 --> 00:17:30,860 weaving is traditionally a job for women. 298 00:17:30,860 --> 00:17:32,580 So, this is the workshop. 299 00:17:32,580 --> 00:17:35,340 Oh, this is amazing! What a space! 300 00:17:36,460 --> 00:17:41,380 Salaam. So this lady is making a traditional carpet. 301 00:17:43,380 --> 00:17:45,980 Gosh. Working from this plan along the top? 302 00:17:45,980 --> 00:17:48,900 Yeah. Yeah. So this is the photo of the previous carpet. 303 00:17:48,900 --> 00:17:50,740 Uh-huh. But this one, they know by heart. 304 00:17:50,740 --> 00:17:54,300 Oh, OK! So they don't need any sketch, they don't need any... 305 00:17:54,300 --> 00:17:56,900 They're very skilled. So these are the traditional ones, 306 00:17:56,900 --> 00:18:00,660 but yours are made in here as well, are they? Yeah. OK. Yeah. 307 00:18:08,700 --> 00:18:12,220 But whether they are art or entirely traditional, 308 00:18:12,220 --> 00:18:16,580 the rugs here are all made the same way - individual knots of colour 309 00:18:16,580 --> 00:18:19,300 made around the white vertical threads. 310 00:18:22,460 --> 00:18:26,340 But Faig takes those traditional patterns and melts them, 311 00:18:26,340 --> 00:18:31,260 makes them flow, connects them with the present day. 312 00:18:31,260 --> 00:18:34,540 So, this one... Oh, this is one of yours? Oh! So, same technique, 313 00:18:34,540 --> 00:18:38,900 but they are using the mat for this, because little, little... 314 00:18:38,900 --> 00:18:40,740 Yeah. So this is what it will look like? 315 00:18:40,740 --> 00:18:44,540 Yeah. This one, the actual, actual, the previous one. 316 00:18:44,540 --> 00:18:46,420 So... That's amazing. 317 00:18:46,420 --> 00:18:50,300 I love the idea that it looks like paint swirl. 318 00:18:50,300 --> 00:18:53,340 It is incredible. It is, actually. Because anyway it's paint, 319 00:18:53,340 --> 00:18:57,300 anyway it's oil. Yeah! Somehow. 320 00:18:57,300 --> 00:19:01,060 Oil, it turns out, is something of a theme. 321 00:19:01,060 --> 00:19:04,980 Faig is reminding us how much Azerbaijan has been changed 322 00:19:04,980 --> 00:19:07,940 by this abundant resource. 323 00:19:07,940 --> 00:19:10,220 Look at this. This looks like an oil slick. 324 00:19:10,220 --> 00:19:14,660 The whole framework of the piece has just gone bonkers, hasn't it? 325 00:19:14,660 --> 00:19:16,860 Actually, this has to be on the floor... 326 00:19:16,860 --> 00:19:18,660 Oh, I see! Like it's dripped down? 327 00:19:18,660 --> 00:19:20,580 It's kind of, yeah, it's kind of dripped. 328 00:19:20,580 --> 00:19:25,620 The traditional shape is, you know, rectangular, edged, symmetrical. 329 00:19:25,820 --> 00:19:28,020 You're making all of that confused. THEY LAUGH 330 00:19:29,540 --> 00:19:31,900 This is what artists have to do, actually, 331 00:19:31,900 --> 00:19:33,540 a little bit go out of the box. 332 00:19:33,540 --> 00:19:36,700 But the carpet is very simple, but it's in a very complicated object. 333 00:19:36,700 --> 00:19:39,340 But at the same time, it's a kind of very flexible object, too. 334 00:19:39,340 --> 00:19:41,060 Yeah, there's a freedom. 335 00:19:41,060 --> 00:19:43,700 But I love that, that it's... It's freedom in limitation. 336 00:19:45,580 --> 00:19:49,020 While Nina has been dealing with the cutting edge of carpet art, 337 00:19:49,020 --> 00:19:53,060 I'm about to plunge into the deep history of carpets in Azerbaijan, 338 00:19:53,060 --> 00:19:55,660 and as you might expect of Baku by now, 339 00:19:55,660 --> 00:19:58,740 the building it's in is brand-spanking-new. 340 00:20:01,740 --> 00:20:04,220 Of all of Baku's shiny new modern buildings, 341 00:20:04,220 --> 00:20:07,340 I think this one wins the prize for literalness, 342 00:20:07,340 --> 00:20:10,020 because it's the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum, 343 00:20:10,020 --> 00:20:11,940 and you have to hand it to the architect, 344 00:20:11,940 --> 00:20:15,980 it does look remarkably like a big rolled-up rug. 345 00:20:22,660 --> 00:20:27,660 Inside the Carpet Museum is a world of bewildering variety. 346 00:20:28,180 --> 00:20:30,940 There are, of course, carpets everywhere. 347 00:20:34,140 --> 00:20:37,540 Fortunately, the museum's director, Shirin Melikova, 348 00:20:37,540 --> 00:20:39,620 is here to give me a helping hand. 349 00:20:40,780 --> 00:20:43,820 There are carpets that are wonderfully simple, 350 00:20:43,820 --> 00:20:46,340 there are carpets that are wonderfully ornate. 351 00:20:48,300 --> 00:20:52,900 Carpets are the genetic code of our nation, 352 00:20:52,900 --> 00:20:56,260 and all the historical periods 353 00:20:56,260 --> 00:20:58,780 could be seen in the carpets. 354 00:20:58,780 --> 00:21:01,140 All our history, traditions, 355 00:21:01,140 --> 00:21:05,380 folklore and literature could be seen in our carpets. 356 00:21:05,380 --> 00:21:09,740 You can see tribal carpets, you can see folk carpets, 357 00:21:09,740 --> 00:21:12,340 you can see the court carpets, 358 00:21:12,340 --> 00:21:15,940 and you can see really different patterns 359 00:21:15,940 --> 00:21:19,140 and compositions and colours of each region. 360 00:21:19,140 --> 00:21:22,740 Shirin takes me to another part of the museum 361 00:21:22,740 --> 00:21:27,100 to show me something I really should have expected. 362 00:21:27,100 --> 00:21:30,220 OK, these are not like any carpets I've seen before. 363 00:21:30,220 --> 00:21:31,700 Or elsewhere in the museum. 364 00:21:31,700 --> 00:21:36,100 What's going on? That is carpets from Soviet time 365 00:21:36,100 --> 00:21:40,260 in a socialist realism style. 366 00:21:40,260 --> 00:21:43,580 So you can see here the collective farmer, 367 00:21:43,580 --> 00:21:48,620 the worker and the woman, who now are free, 368 00:21:48,940 --> 00:21:52,020 and she can be educated 369 00:21:52,020 --> 00:21:56,380 and she could be some engineer. 370 00:21:56,380 --> 00:21:59,860 And of course, the oil. And of course, the oil. 371 00:21:59,860 --> 00:22:04,500 You can see the industrial city, oil rocks. 372 00:22:04,500 --> 00:22:09,500 And here you can see completely new way of patterns. You see the pipes... 373 00:22:12,260 --> 00:22:15,380 Industry. Absolutely. Industrial carpets. 374 00:22:15,380 --> 00:22:18,420 Carpet art is really alive 375 00:22:18,420 --> 00:22:22,580 and it always reflects its epoch. 376 00:22:22,580 --> 00:22:27,300 The Soviet moment was just the most recent conquest in Baku's turbulent 377 00:22:27,300 --> 00:22:31,420 history. Nina's been desperate to get into the Old City, 378 00:22:31,420 --> 00:22:34,300 parts of which date back to the 11th century. 379 00:22:37,500 --> 00:22:39,740 We're travelling back in time, 380 00:22:39,740 --> 00:22:43,220 to an era when Baku had been conquered by Arabs, 381 00:22:43,220 --> 00:22:44,900 by expansionist Islam, 382 00:22:44,900 --> 00:22:48,300 and was ruled by a dynasty called the Shirvanshahs. 383 00:22:50,940 --> 00:22:54,300 Oh, this is me getting into my comfort zone. 384 00:22:56,900 --> 00:22:59,180 Ooh! I'm happy to be in the Old City. 385 00:22:59,180 --> 00:23:01,660 This was the bit I was really looking forward to. 386 00:23:01,660 --> 00:23:04,380 I know. 14th century! It makes me happy that you're happy. 387 00:23:04,380 --> 00:23:07,540 I am happy. Here by the twin gates. They are beautiful, those gates. 388 00:23:07,540 --> 00:23:12,540 And very symbolic. It's where the Shirvanshah dynasty entered when they made Baku the capital city. 389 00:23:12,540 --> 00:23:16,460 I like the fact that the scale of architecture here's completely different. Absolutely. 390 00:23:16,460 --> 00:23:18,780 All of a sudden, I can't see any gleaming high-rises. 391 00:23:18,780 --> 00:23:22,020 It's quite refreshing. Single-storey, very wind-y. 392 00:23:22,020 --> 00:23:23,500 In fact, we've got maps, 393 00:23:23,500 --> 00:23:26,300 and you can see how technically chaotic it looks here. 394 00:23:26,300 --> 00:23:28,540 They do say people get lost here. 395 00:23:28,540 --> 00:23:30,660 I'm going to find the Shirvanshah Palace. 396 00:23:30,660 --> 00:23:32,100 Yes. I want to find... 397 00:23:32,100 --> 00:23:34,460 In fact, the oldest mosque in Baku. 398 00:23:34,460 --> 00:23:36,820 I have a feeling... I think we're here. 399 00:23:36,820 --> 00:23:39,260 No, we're over here. Oh, no, no, we're over there. No, no... 400 00:23:39,260 --> 00:23:42,140 Would you like to stay together? We are starting well. 401 00:23:42,140 --> 00:23:44,180 SHE LAUGHS Would that be helpful? 402 00:23:49,260 --> 00:23:53,260 I'm so sure of my internal compass that I don't need the map. 403 00:23:53,260 --> 00:23:56,620 It's in my pocket if I do get lost, but I won't. 404 00:23:57,980 --> 00:23:59,660 Nice hat. 405 00:24:06,580 --> 00:24:09,060 Great - two flights of stairs. 406 00:24:09,060 --> 00:24:10,900 I don't know which way to go. 407 00:24:10,900 --> 00:24:12,220 Herb Street. 408 00:24:12,220 --> 00:24:14,740 Harb Street, Harb Street! 409 00:24:14,740 --> 00:24:19,820 I'm here! I'm basically about two metres away from the gates where I started. 410 00:24:26,060 --> 00:24:30,140 I'm sure I've seen that laundry three times already. 411 00:24:30,140 --> 00:24:33,340 But getting lost at least gives us the opportunity 412 00:24:33,340 --> 00:24:34,780 to enjoy the Old City. 413 00:24:34,780 --> 00:24:38,060 There's a lot here that was rebuilt in the 19th century, 414 00:24:38,060 --> 00:24:41,580 but they always kept the narrowness of the medieval streets. 415 00:24:41,580 --> 00:24:43,700 SHE SIGHS 416 00:24:43,700 --> 00:24:45,340 Thank goodness. I've found it! 417 00:24:51,980 --> 00:24:56,340 I'm in the very heart of the Shirvanshah Palace. 418 00:24:56,340 --> 00:24:59,380 Most of the structure dates from the 15th century. 419 00:24:59,380 --> 00:25:00,980 The dynasty that built it, 420 00:25:00,980 --> 00:25:05,260 which ruled the area around Baku from the year 861, 421 00:25:05,260 --> 00:25:09,300 survived successive conquests by bending with the winds. 422 00:25:11,620 --> 00:25:15,220 In the face of Arab Muslims, they converted to Islam. 423 00:25:15,220 --> 00:25:16,860 In the 13th century, 424 00:25:16,860 --> 00:25:21,060 they swore loyalty to the Mongols and became minor Khans themselves. 425 00:25:22,980 --> 00:25:25,820 They ducked, they dived and survived 426 00:25:25,820 --> 00:25:28,700 until the middle years of the 16th century, 427 00:25:28,700 --> 00:25:33,700 becoming the longest-lasting dynasty the Islamic world has ever seen. 428 00:25:39,500 --> 00:25:44,500 This portal is a wonderful example of an iconic Islamic art. 429 00:25:45,060 --> 00:25:48,900 So, unlike Christianity, Islam, right from the off, 430 00:25:48,900 --> 00:25:51,340 specified that figures, 431 00:25:51,340 --> 00:25:53,420 human beings, and indeed animals, 432 00:25:53,420 --> 00:25:55,900 wouldn't be included in their visual arts 433 00:25:55,900 --> 00:26:00,940 because only God can create the image or likeness of man and nature. 434 00:26:02,340 --> 00:26:06,220 So instead, they focused on foliate decoration. 435 00:26:06,220 --> 00:26:08,740 Here you can see beautiful vine 436 00:26:08,740 --> 00:26:12,060 and fig leaves writhing over the surface in 437 00:26:12,060 --> 00:26:15,140 these deeply carved geometric patterns. 438 00:26:15,140 --> 00:26:19,460 And the other great source of inspiration for Islamic art and architecture 439 00:26:19,460 --> 00:26:21,940 is of course the Qur'an, the sacred text. 440 00:26:21,940 --> 00:26:26,220 Up there you can see two lines in Kufic script. 441 00:26:26,220 --> 00:26:31,060 And they were able to develop beautiful series of art, 442 00:26:31,060 --> 00:26:34,620 just by perfecting different types of calligraphy. 443 00:26:35,500 --> 00:26:37,700 But this site is important, too, 444 00:26:37,700 --> 00:26:40,820 because, while it could be used as a place for feasting, 445 00:26:40,820 --> 00:26:45,180 there is also something underneath that's quite interesting. 446 00:26:49,060 --> 00:26:52,940 So you can imagine the court all gathered together, 447 00:26:52,940 --> 00:26:55,580 music taking place in here, 448 00:26:55,580 --> 00:26:59,820 feasting and a vibrant court full of men and women. 449 00:26:59,820 --> 00:27:04,900 And indeed, this particular area here is known as the milk well. 450 00:27:05,100 --> 00:27:08,020 Underneath is a well of water, 451 00:27:08,020 --> 00:27:12,900 and women would come here from the court, and they would go 452 00:27:12,900 --> 00:27:17,940 down a set of stairs that leads into a secret chamber underneath here, 453 00:27:18,780 --> 00:27:23,180 and down that they would pray for God, Allah, 454 00:27:23,180 --> 00:27:26,860 to bring them the milk they need to nourish their babies. 455 00:27:47,940 --> 00:27:51,620 Ah, at last, my mosque. 456 00:27:51,620 --> 00:27:53,660 OK, it's taken a little while, 457 00:27:53,660 --> 00:27:57,420 but finally I found the Siniggala mosque which I wanted to see. 458 00:27:57,420 --> 00:28:01,300 And, well, it is actually a really beautiful 11th-century structure, 459 00:28:01,300 --> 00:28:04,100 most of it. But have a look at that minaret. 460 00:28:04,100 --> 00:28:06,860 Because right at the top you can see, to the left, 461 00:28:06,860 --> 00:28:10,140 there is a much newer stone, and there's a reason for that. 462 00:28:10,140 --> 00:28:12,580 It is because, if we go back to the 18th century, 463 00:28:12,580 --> 00:28:15,940 in the 1720s, the Russian tsar, Peter the Great, 464 00:28:15,940 --> 00:28:20,380 sent a fleet to Baku to conquer the city and the surrounding area. 465 00:28:20,380 --> 00:28:24,140 And a cannonball hit the minaret and completely shattered 466 00:28:24,140 --> 00:28:27,900 that side of the top of it. 467 00:28:27,900 --> 00:28:32,900 Things were not looking good, but there's one thing you can rely on here in Baku, and that is the wind. 468 00:28:33,500 --> 00:28:35,500 Suddenly the weather completely changes 469 00:28:35,500 --> 00:28:37,140 and the fleet was driven away. 470 00:28:37,140 --> 00:28:41,180 And of course, for the people of Baku, it seemed like a wonderful 471 00:28:41,180 --> 00:28:44,220 example of divine providence saving the city. 472 00:28:48,700 --> 00:28:53,420 Mosque found, lesson of centuries of Russian interest in Baku 473 00:28:53,420 --> 00:28:56,500 well learnt, time to find Nina. 474 00:28:57,940 --> 00:29:00,620 My goodness, what a maze. I was getting worried! SHE LAUGHS 475 00:29:00,620 --> 00:29:02,700 I thought we'd never see each other again. 476 00:29:02,700 --> 00:29:05,340 It has been good, though. Yeah. I love it, I love getting lost 477 00:29:05,340 --> 00:29:07,220 in places like this. I know. It is exciting. 478 00:29:07,220 --> 00:29:09,860 That's part of the experience, isn't it? You actually have to. 479 00:29:10,980 --> 00:29:14,220 In the Old City, Baku seems comfortable with its past, 480 00:29:14,220 --> 00:29:17,380 but we're both becoming aware that its Soviet history hasn't been 481 00:29:17,380 --> 00:29:20,460 tidied away as totally as we first thought. 482 00:29:20,460 --> 00:29:23,780 I'm going to visit a building just outside the northern walls 483 00:29:23,780 --> 00:29:27,900 of the Old City, the Nizami Museum of National Literature, 484 00:29:27,900 --> 00:29:30,300 named after a 12th-century poet. 485 00:29:32,460 --> 00:29:35,820 And I'm going to visit a rather celebratory cemetery. 486 00:29:41,220 --> 00:29:43,540 Have a look at the shape, the structure, 487 00:29:43,540 --> 00:29:45,660 the underlying solidity of this building. 488 00:29:46,620 --> 00:29:50,620 In my head, it once looked like a building at the top of the square 489 00:29:50,620 --> 00:29:55,180 which is clearly based on European models in a classical tradition - 490 00:29:55,180 --> 00:29:58,500 lots of pilasters with fancy Corinthian capitals, 491 00:29:58,500 --> 00:30:02,100 balustrades across the roof, you can still see some here - 492 00:30:02,100 --> 00:30:05,100 but something happens to this building in the 20th century. 493 00:30:05,100 --> 00:30:07,580 The Soviets decide that, yes, 494 00:30:07,580 --> 00:30:12,420 let's have a museum named after the 12th-century Persian poet Nizami. 495 00:30:12,420 --> 00:30:16,060 And I think part of the reason for that is because you have this 496 00:30:16,060 --> 00:30:20,220 fascinating moment in Soviet history where at that moment Azerbaijan is a 497 00:30:20,220 --> 00:30:23,140 Soviet state, but if you like, 498 00:30:23,140 --> 00:30:28,180 the Soviets want to signal that the people who live here can express their own identity in some sense, 499 00:30:28,500 --> 00:30:33,260 and so this essentially neoclassical 19th-century building is radically 500 00:30:33,260 --> 00:30:37,620 overhauled. You can see, all of a sudden, it looks radically different. 501 00:30:39,420 --> 00:30:44,060 The facade becomes very Islamic in terms of ornament and design, 502 00:30:44,060 --> 00:30:46,700 those beautiful tiled niches, 503 00:30:46,700 --> 00:30:50,260 and in each niche there are statues of different writers, 504 00:30:50,260 --> 00:30:53,100 all born within the borders of modern Azerbaijan. 505 00:30:54,260 --> 00:30:57,740 And then in the middle, you can't forget this. 506 00:30:59,140 --> 00:31:04,220 A Soviet star, right in amongst all that wonderful curling Islamic decoration. 507 00:31:05,420 --> 00:31:09,420 The Soviets were encouraging loyalty to both Azerbaijan 508 00:31:09,420 --> 00:31:11,220 and the Soviet Union. 509 00:31:11,220 --> 00:31:14,700 This was standard practice in every Soviet republic, 510 00:31:14,700 --> 00:31:16,180 but as a strategy, 511 00:31:16,180 --> 00:31:21,220 it runs a risk that one day national identity may come to matter more. 512 00:31:26,220 --> 00:31:30,140 I've been told that if I want to see a celebration of the importance of 513 00:31:30,140 --> 00:31:34,740 being Azerbaijani, this is the place, the Avenue of Honour. 514 00:31:34,740 --> 00:31:37,900 It's a cemetery to the honoured dead of Azerbaijan. 515 00:31:39,660 --> 00:31:42,860 And its foundation was ordered in 1948, 516 00:31:42,860 --> 00:31:45,620 smack dab in the middle of Soviet times. 517 00:31:47,260 --> 00:31:50,860 Still in keeping with those twin Soviet aims of pride 518 00:31:50,860 --> 00:31:55,860 in your individual republic and pride in the Soviet Union itself. 519 00:31:59,020 --> 00:32:01,700 But there's definitely something bubbling up here. 520 00:32:04,860 --> 00:32:09,100 A positive pleasure taken in the very idea of being Azerbaijani. 521 00:32:11,500 --> 00:32:14,020 Not all cemeteries are sad. 522 00:32:17,300 --> 00:32:20,420 All of the commemorative statues, plaques, 523 00:32:20,420 --> 00:32:24,020 they're clearly in the social realist style, but it's not sad, 524 00:32:24,020 --> 00:32:25,340 tragic social realism. 525 00:32:25,340 --> 00:32:29,740 This is joyous, exuberant, slightly over-the-top. 526 00:32:29,740 --> 00:32:31,940 I mean, look at this example here. 527 00:32:31,940 --> 00:32:35,020 This is commemorating Rashid Behbudov. 528 00:32:35,020 --> 00:32:38,540 He was a star of the screen and a singer. 529 00:32:38,540 --> 00:32:41,220 If you just look at the statue here, 530 00:32:41,220 --> 00:32:46,020 he could just jump off that plinth and start singing any second. 531 00:32:49,820 --> 00:32:53,540 He could do a duet with fellow singer Muslim Magomayev, 532 00:32:53,540 --> 00:32:56,340 Azerbaijan's answer to Tom Jones. 533 00:32:56,340 --> 00:32:58,980 In fact, after walking around here for a while, 534 00:32:58,980 --> 00:33:02,780 I'm beginning to think that it's actually dedicated to practitioners 535 00:33:02,780 --> 00:33:04,340 of jazz-handing. 536 00:33:04,340 --> 00:33:07,180 I like to call this happy realism. 537 00:33:07,180 --> 00:33:09,740 There are composers and pianists. 538 00:33:09,740 --> 00:33:12,380 Here's one, cigarette still in hand. 539 00:33:12,380 --> 00:33:15,180 There are poets and traditional musicians. 540 00:33:15,180 --> 00:33:17,420 Here's an optimistic politician. 541 00:33:17,420 --> 00:33:19,340 And here's the comedian and actress 542 00:33:19,340 --> 00:33:22,140 Nasiba Zeynalova, smiling. 543 00:33:23,340 --> 00:33:27,060 You get the feeling that the intention of an enormous number of 544 00:33:27,060 --> 00:33:31,340 these sculptures is not to remind us that these people are dead. 545 00:33:31,340 --> 00:33:35,700 They're trying to remind us that these people were very much alive. 546 00:33:37,540 --> 00:33:42,580 So far, it's been statues and buildings that have been our clues to Baku's past. 547 00:33:44,260 --> 00:33:48,540 I want to see if this same story of gathering national pride can be 548 00:33:48,540 --> 00:33:52,860 found in Azerbaijan's art, so I'm visiting the National Art Museum, 549 00:33:52,860 --> 00:33:55,620 and I'm looking for just one work, 550 00:33:55,620 --> 00:34:00,660 a sombre masterpiece by a man from Baku, Tahir Salahov, 551 00:34:00,900 --> 00:34:02,820 who was young in the '50s, 552 00:34:02,820 --> 00:34:06,260 and whose father was killed on Stalin's orders. 553 00:34:06,260 --> 00:34:07,820 It isn't on display. 554 00:34:07,820 --> 00:34:11,940 It's only just arrived back home in Azerbaijan from a show in Moscow, 555 00:34:11,940 --> 00:34:14,940 and it has something to tell me, I think, 556 00:34:14,940 --> 00:34:18,660 about life here in the middle years of the 20th century. 557 00:34:20,100 --> 00:34:22,300 It feels so special to see this up close. 558 00:34:22,300 --> 00:34:27,260 It's such a powerful and haunting... this is unforgettable, this work. 559 00:34:32,420 --> 00:34:36,260 I think, for me, the power of this painting is its ambiguity, 560 00:34:36,260 --> 00:34:40,700 and you see that at once in the light of it, this gloomy, 561 00:34:40,700 --> 00:34:42,980 strange half-light. 562 00:34:42,980 --> 00:34:47,900 It could be dawn, it could be after the sun has set. 563 00:34:47,900 --> 00:34:52,940 And in amongst the gloom, some details start to emerge that 564 00:34:56,500 --> 00:35:01,420 what it's saying about Azerbaijan, the spirit of the country, 565 00:35:01,420 --> 00:35:05,060 its condition, round about 1960, when this work was painted. 566 00:35:08,780 --> 00:35:10,340 The dirt on the coat. 567 00:35:12,260 --> 00:35:14,380 Wrinkles, lines of worry. 568 00:35:16,620 --> 00:35:21,700 A generally slightly grubby, grimy, scuffed quality. 569 00:35:22,140 --> 00:35:27,140 This is not socialist realism, it's not about the heroism of the worker, 570 00:35:27,820 --> 00:35:31,980 it's not a piece of blunt propaganda for a regime. 571 00:35:31,980 --> 00:35:33,820 It's something new. 572 00:35:33,820 --> 00:35:35,660 It's something that Salahov, 573 00:35:35,660 --> 00:35:38,340 the artist who painted this, was pioneering, 574 00:35:38,340 --> 00:35:43,380 known as severe realism, severe style, and it has that austerity, 575 00:35:43,780 --> 00:35:46,380 that severity, that's immediately palpable. 576 00:35:51,180 --> 00:35:54,900 I feel if you look at his face, this central character, 577 00:35:54,900 --> 00:35:57,860 he's not NOT a hero - he's got a grubby coat, 578 00:35:57,860 --> 00:36:00,980 but he's not someone pathetic. 579 00:36:00,980 --> 00:36:03,900 Instead, he's quite defiant, I think. 580 00:36:03,900 --> 00:36:06,260 That glare, that face is confrontational. 581 00:36:08,220 --> 00:36:12,460 He's letting you know in that stare that life doesn't have to be this way at all. 582 00:36:14,020 --> 00:36:16,220 Maybe I'm reading too much into this, 583 00:36:16,220 --> 00:36:19,420 but this painting speaks to me of a dissatisfaction 584 00:36:19,420 --> 00:36:23,420 with the Soviet regime, a pride in the people of Azerbaijan. 585 00:36:24,940 --> 00:36:29,940 And the breaking point came in 1990 as the Soviet Union came undone. 586 00:36:32,620 --> 00:36:34,940 I'm close to where we started. 587 00:36:34,940 --> 00:36:38,460 Across the hill from the great viewing platform where we began, 588 00:36:38,460 --> 00:36:41,180 there's this hugely dignified monument. 589 00:36:42,420 --> 00:36:46,260 It reaches back in time to the Islamic architecture of Azerbaijan's 590 00:36:46,260 --> 00:36:47,860 pre-Soviet past. 591 00:36:48,900 --> 00:36:53,380 Each arched doorway is narrowed and stretched upwards, 592 00:36:53,380 --> 00:36:58,420 almost as though the entire building is yearning, reaching for the sky. 593 00:36:58,500 --> 00:37:00,900 Inside, there is an eternal flame. 594 00:37:02,500 --> 00:37:07,220 It burns for the citizens of Baku who died in what's called 595 00:37:07,220 --> 00:37:11,420 Black January, January of 1990, 596 00:37:11,420 --> 00:37:16,460 when 26,000 Soviet troops with tanks came here to suppress a movement for 597 00:37:18,100 --> 00:37:21,660 Azerbaijan to secede from the USSR. 598 00:37:21,660 --> 00:37:26,700 At least 134 people died, possibly many more. 599 00:37:28,860 --> 00:37:32,180 Many of these cars were occupied when the tanks rolled over them. 600 00:37:34,500 --> 00:37:39,500 And someone must have thought this bus was full of very dangerous people. 601 00:37:44,060 --> 00:37:46,820 Most of the population of Baku attended the funeral. 602 00:37:49,460 --> 00:37:53,780 Coffins covered in red carnations moved through them to their final 603 00:37:53,780 --> 00:37:56,780 resting place, 604 00:37:56,780 --> 00:38:00,940 on the hill where Kirov's statue would stand for a few more months. 605 00:38:08,540 --> 00:38:12,940 In the avenue leading to the monument, the Avenue of Martyrs, 606 00:38:12,940 --> 00:38:16,260 there are individual plaques for those who died at the hands 607 00:38:16,260 --> 00:38:21,220 of the Soviet troops, with photographs of each human face. 608 00:38:22,620 --> 00:38:27,660 It's one of those moments where the historical date is set in stone. 609 00:38:29,860 --> 00:38:32,380 It's almost like it's an architectural full stop, 610 00:38:32,380 --> 00:38:36,580 it marks this punctuation point in history. 611 00:38:36,580 --> 00:38:39,940 And it's clear that the events of Black January 612 00:38:39,940 --> 00:38:43,380 were crucial, because from that moment on, 613 00:38:43,380 --> 00:38:48,420 being Soviet was so much less important than being Azerbaijani. 614 00:38:53,060 --> 00:38:58,060 And I can't help thinking this is exactly the sort of moment into which a strong leader will step. 615 00:39:01,020 --> 00:39:05,500 I'm still in the Avenue of Honour, where nobody seems entirely dead, 616 00:39:05,500 --> 00:39:08,900 and I'm approaching a statue that's all about strong leadership. 617 00:39:10,020 --> 00:39:14,220 This huge statue here commemorates Heydar Aliyev, 618 00:39:14,220 --> 00:39:19,300 the president of the independent Republic of Azerbaijan from October 1993. 619 00:39:20,820 --> 00:39:25,940 Now, he doesn't really feel dead to the people of Azerbaijan because he is so important tothem. 620 00:39:27,740 --> 00:39:32,820 In many ways, he is seen as the saviour of the country from that period of post-Soviet chaos. 621 00:39:36,420 --> 00:39:40,020 Heydar Aliyev had governed Azerbaijan for many years 622 00:39:40,020 --> 00:39:44,980 in Soviet times. He won the election with 99% of the vote. 623 00:39:45,140 --> 00:39:50,220 He died 14 years ago of heart disease and was succeeded by his son, Ilham Aliyev. 624 00:39:52,860 --> 00:39:54,900 It sounds more like a monarchy. 625 00:39:59,620 --> 00:40:04,300 A large part of the work of the last 14 years has involved remembering 626 00:40:04,300 --> 00:40:08,020 the father. Keeping him alive has become one of the purposes of Baku. 627 00:40:09,220 --> 00:40:12,940 This is the statue of Heydar Aliyev in Heydar Aliyev Park, 628 00:40:12,940 --> 00:40:15,860 with the Heydar Aliyev Concert Hall in the middle distance. 629 00:40:17,620 --> 00:40:22,060 There's a Heydar Aliyev Avenue, too, six lanes of traffic, 630 00:40:22,060 --> 00:40:27,020 and it leads here, to a building that's one of the reasons why Alistair and I wanted to visit 631 00:40:27,020 --> 00:40:28,580 Baku in the first place. 632 00:40:31,340 --> 00:40:33,260 What about this, then! 633 00:40:33,260 --> 00:40:35,780 It is gorgeous, don't you think? 634 00:40:35,780 --> 00:40:39,660 I do. I mean, it's hard, you can't really find anything bad to say 635 00:40:39,660 --> 00:40:41,940 about this. It has to be celebrated. 636 00:40:45,500 --> 00:40:50,540 And it makes me think of the effect of really spectacular stark-itecture. 637 00:40:51,420 --> 00:40:55,300 You know, this was designed by Zaha Hadid, opened in 2012, 638 00:40:55,300 --> 00:40:57,540 and I think is the reason, in many ways, 639 00:40:57,540 --> 00:41:02,300 why Baku, as a city, is now on people's maps as a cultural tourist 640 00:41:02,300 --> 00:41:05,220 destination. You know, this is world-famous already, that quickly. 641 00:41:07,900 --> 00:41:11,580 It is so outstanding, partly because of its setting, 642 00:41:11,580 --> 00:41:16,620 because all around us are Soviet blocks, cubes, high-rises, 643 00:41:16,940 --> 00:41:20,100 and there are some interesting shape to some of the more modern 644 00:41:20,100 --> 00:41:25,140 architecture, but this is just stand-out, and it's white, it's gleaming, it's spectacular! 645 00:41:25,380 --> 00:41:28,620 I think we're agreed, it's great architecture. 646 00:41:28,620 --> 00:41:31,220 The amazing thing is, it puts me in mind as well, slightly, 647 00:41:31,220 --> 00:41:33,620 of a big recent cultural story in the Middle East. 648 00:41:33,620 --> 00:41:36,620 You see great development in places like Abu Dhabi, 649 00:41:36,620 --> 00:41:40,540 where they're bringing, building these spectacular buildings 650 00:41:40,540 --> 00:41:44,140 as museums, and they're filling them with world-class masterpieces - 651 00:41:44,140 --> 00:41:46,940 in the case of Abu Dhabi, with works on loan from the Louvre. 652 00:41:46,940 --> 00:41:50,260 Well, it's going to be interesting to see what's inside here, isn't it? 653 00:41:50,260 --> 00:41:51,740 It's going to be very interesting. 654 00:42:04,380 --> 00:42:08,260 Inside, dream-sequence architecture. 655 00:42:09,260 --> 00:42:14,020 It's a world of glossy heated floors and pure white curves. 656 00:42:15,660 --> 00:42:18,500 Insane sightlines to higher floors. 657 00:42:24,020 --> 00:42:26,140 Sweeping stairways, 658 00:42:26,140 --> 00:42:30,540 built for someone, or something, considerably bigger than us. 659 00:42:33,620 --> 00:42:38,620 It also contains an exhibition of models of Baku's buildings, old... 660 00:42:38,620 --> 00:42:43,340 This is sort of an example of the Parisian chic. 661 00:42:43,340 --> 00:42:46,420 ..and new. This is where we are, Nina! 662 00:42:46,420 --> 00:42:49,020 SHE GASPS That's meta, isn't it? 663 00:42:49,020 --> 00:42:52,700 Look! A space inside a space! 664 00:42:52,700 --> 00:42:54,140 I love it. 665 00:42:54,140 --> 00:42:56,340 Are there little versions of us in there? 666 00:42:56,340 --> 00:42:58,420 It's all gone a bit Doctor Who. 667 00:43:00,820 --> 00:43:04,860 But a very large amount of the inside of the Heydar Aliyev Centre 668 00:43:04,860 --> 00:43:07,140 is devoted to - who else? 669 00:43:07,140 --> 00:43:09,580 Heydar Aliyev. 670 00:43:09,580 --> 00:43:10,900 Strong on branding. 671 00:43:10,900 --> 00:43:15,020 On the first floor there's an entire museum devoted to his life, 672 00:43:15,020 --> 00:43:18,860 with a soundtrack, celestial music. 673 00:43:18,860 --> 00:43:20,660 CELESTIAL MUSIC PLAYS 674 00:43:33,580 --> 00:43:36,580 Gosh, there's more photos of him 675 00:43:36,580 --> 00:43:39,660 than I have of myself in my own home. 676 00:43:39,660 --> 00:43:41,180 It's a pleasure to see so many. 677 00:43:41,180 --> 00:43:42,620 Many, many pictures. 678 00:43:53,900 --> 00:43:55,220 Hmm... 679 00:43:58,620 --> 00:44:00,460 What do you think of this, Nina? 680 00:44:00,460 --> 00:44:03,460 I... Careful what you say, the president is listening. 681 00:44:03,460 --> 00:44:05,420 Yes. The walls have ears. 682 00:44:08,460 --> 00:44:11,060 It's certainly an...elaborate celebration. 683 00:44:12,260 --> 00:44:14,740 It's a very completist celebration. 684 00:44:14,740 --> 00:44:16,260 Yes. 685 00:44:22,500 --> 00:44:27,500 So this extraordinary structure is in service to the regime. 686 00:44:27,580 --> 00:44:32,620 We want to see art that's free, unsupervised, uncensored. 687 00:44:33,060 --> 00:44:36,140 Hard to find in a country where many artists live in exile. 688 00:44:37,420 --> 00:44:41,100 I'm going to look for it in the past, in ancient rock art. 689 00:44:43,060 --> 00:44:47,020 And I've had word of an artist with a reputation as something of a 690 00:44:47,020 --> 00:44:49,100 critical voice. 691 00:44:49,100 --> 00:44:52,900 Right now, she's working on a large private commission for someone who 692 00:44:52,900 --> 00:44:56,820 collects pictures from Azerbaijan's recent history, 693 00:44:56,820 --> 00:45:01,620 and Sabina Shikhlinskaya's subject is, of course, oil. 694 00:45:03,060 --> 00:45:04,980 Sabina, hi. 695 00:45:04,980 --> 00:45:07,380 Hi. Alastair. Hello. It's so good to meet you. 696 00:45:07,380 --> 00:45:09,460 Nice to meet you. Yes! 697 00:45:09,460 --> 00:45:12,940 And so... Right, my understanding is that this is a temporary studio. 698 00:45:12,940 --> 00:45:17,900 Yes. Just work for these 20 canvases. 699 00:45:18,620 --> 00:45:20,300 20? Mural, yes. 700 00:45:20,300 --> 00:45:23,420 Gosh. Well, you need high ceilings for these. They're big, grand works. 701 00:45:23,420 --> 00:45:26,020 Yeah. I've been looking at the work of Salahov, and, I mean, this, 702 00:45:26,020 --> 00:45:27,340 as a first impression, 703 00:45:27,340 --> 00:45:29,540 feels like it's perhaps indebted in some way to that. 704 00:45:29,540 --> 00:45:33,540 You're very smart. I'm making them the same big, strong guys, 705 00:45:33,540 --> 00:45:37,700 like social realism artists, they were doing at that time, 706 00:45:37,700 --> 00:45:41,660 but in my case, like, they are not the real ones. 707 00:45:41,660 --> 00:45:43,140 They are like monuments. 708 00:45:43,140 --> 00:45:44,900 I mean, tell me about this. 709 00:45:44,900 --> 00:45:47,380 I couldn't help, as soon as I walked in, 710 00:45:47,380 --> 00:45:51,820 this feels like a grand, abstract expressionist homage, if you like. 711 00:45:51,820 --> 00:45:53,220 With this glistening... 712 00:45:53,220 --> 00:45:54,420 I guess that's meant to be... 713 00:45:54,420 --> 00:45:57,300 It's like an oil slick, isn't it? Yes, it is the real oil. 714 00:45:57,300 --> 00:45:58,460 The black is REAL oil? 715 00:45:58,460 --> 00:46:03,380 Yes, it's real oil, which I am using now as an art material, because, 716 00:46:03,380 --> 00:46:06,500 first of all, I like to use strange materials for my art. 717 00:46:06,500 --> 00:46:08,300 The second is shooting by the meaning, 718 00:46:08,300 --> 00:46:12,100 because my history of the oil starting from the catastrophe, 719 00:46:12,100 --> 00:46:14,220 from the environmental catastrophe. 720 00:46:14,220 --> 00:46:16,860 Well, it's fascinating, because I'm getting the sense, 721 00:46:16,860 --> 00:46:20,540 as you're talking about these works, that, you know, your... 722 00:46:20,540 --> 00:46:25,140 Correct me if I'm wrong. Your attitude towards the oil boom here is a complicated one. 723 00:46:25,140 --> 00:46:29,460 Of course, to have, you know, sometimes people asking... 724 00:46:29,460 --> 00:46:32,620 "In your country, in your history, are you happy to have petrol? 725 00:46:32,620 --> 00:46:35,340 "Or it's happiness or it is disaster?" 726 00:46:35,340 --> 00:46:39,380 And it's a good question because it can be both. 727 00:46:39,380 --> 00:46:44,420 So I don't want to make people happy by my art. It's not my duty. 728 00:46:45,220 --> 00:46:47,540 I will not criticise our democracy, you know, 729 00:46:47,540 --> 00:46:50,180 because we are too young for that. 730 00:46:50,180 --> 00:46:52,420 Of course it's not the best model. 731 00:46:53,420 --> 00:46:54,940 It's open that it's not. 732 00:46:54,940 --> 00:46:58,820 It's like this. But we still have time to change. 733 00:46:58,820 --> 00:47:02,340 But another thing we are already late to do, 734 00:47:02,340 --> 00:47:05,260 with this amount of money which came from the oil, 735 00:47:05,260 --> 00:47:08,860 so we could be much better with the education and with the social 736 00:47:08,860 --> 00:47:12,100 insurance for the people, with the medicine. 737 00:47:13,460 --> 00:47:15,820 Unfortunately, we didn't do that. 738 00:47:15,820 --> 00:47:20,780 I wasn't expecting to meet an artist who would speak so openly and be 739 00:47:20,780 --> 00:47:22,860 this, if you like, outspoken. 740 00:47:22,860 --> 00:47:27,340 So, I'm criticising my own country sometimes, like my own child, 741 00:47:27,340 --> 00:47:30,540 cos I would like that it would be better and I know that there is the 742 00:47:30,540 --> 00:47:32,300 potential to be better. 743 00:47:32,300 --> 00:47:35,780 I think that the critical attitude 744 00:47:35,780 --> 00:47:40,740 is uncomfortable for people who really should be criticised. 745 00:47:40,940 --> 00:47:45,940 With the stupid decisions of some big ministers and the institutions. 746 00:47:47,380 --> 00:47:52,340 So the history of the last ten years showed that a lot of... 747 00:47:52,340 --> 00:47:53,540 Lots of money was... 748 00:47:53,540 --> 00:47:58,580 Funds were stolen from the country by the people who had the very big positions. 749 00:48:00,580 --> 00:48:05,580 Sabina's work, and her critical attitude, are inspired by a love for 750 00:48:05,940 --> 00:48:09,940 her country, and she is indeed a brave and independent voice. 751 00:48:14,660 --> 00:48:17,340 You know, she's a lady, clearly, with this very profound soul, 752 00:48:17,340 --> 00:48:20,140 if you like, that matches the soul, 753 00:48:20,140 --> 00:48:22,660 the national soul that she sees around her, 754 00:48:22,660 --> 00:48:25,380 and it's definitely, to a degree, 755 00:48:25,380 --> 00:48:28,340 allayed any fears I may have had about 756 00:48:28,340 --> 00:48:32,260 this culture here being co-opted today by certain forces at work. 757 00:48:32,260 --> 00:48:34,020 You know, by the state. 758 00:48:34,020 --> 00:48:37,140 Actually, in her case, you know what? It isn't. 759 00:48:37,140 --> 00:48:38,620 It's an honour to have met her. 760 00:48:42,180 --> 00:48:45,460 Alastair has been looking for an artist who's working freely in the 761 00:48:45,460 --> 00:48:50,340 present day, and I'm driving out to a place called Gobustan to see art 762 00:48:50,340 --> 00:48:54,220 from a time before governments, before money, before history. 763 00:48:56,060 --> 00:49:00,340 Once this insane landscape of collapsed cliffs was the shoreline 764 00:49:00,340 --> 00:49:02,460 of the Caspian Sea. 765 00:49:02,460 --> 00:49:07,500 In the 1930s, labourers discovered surfaces layered with carvings, 766 00:49:08,460 --> 00:49:12,860 outlines of animals and dancing human beings. 767 00:49:14,580 --> 00:49:17,700 Oh, they're all starting to come into focus now. 768 00:49:17,700 --> 00:49:21,620 Wow. So we have got a really old 769 00:49:21,620 --> 00:49:25,540 outline here of a male figure. 770 00:49:26,780 --> 00:49:27,900 This is... This is early. 771 00:49:27,900 --> 00:49:29,420 This is probably 772 00:49:29,420 --> 00:49:32,980 upper Palaeolithic, early Mesolithic. 773 00:49:32,980 --> 00:49:38,020 And then, next to him, this huge, beautiful bison. 774 00:49:38,460 --> 00:49:39,660 Look at it. It's enormous. 775 00:49:39,660 --> 00:49:42,060 That's the muzzle, there, the nose, 776 00:49:42,060 --> 00:49:43,740 and the horn coming up, 777 00:49:43,740 --> 00:49:47,900 and then it curves right the way across the rock. 778 00:49:47,900 --> 00:49:51,500 But here you've got a woman, the shape of a woman. 779 00:49:51,500 --> 00:49:53,340 There's her head. 780 00:49:53,340 --> 00:49:55,500 Again incorporating some shells, 781 00:49:55,500 --> 00:49:58,060 and her shoulders curve round like this. 782 00:49:58,060 --> 00:50:02,100 And she's holding some sort of a stick. Is it a weapon? 783 00:50:02,100 --> 00:50:04,180 Is it a javelin, a spear? 784 00:50:04,180 --> 00:50:07,420 Who knows? But then it comes down, narrows down, 785 00:50:07,420 --> 00:50:11,260 and then she has these fabulous big hips. 786 00:50:11,260 --> 00:50:13,020 And what you can see is 787 00:50:13,020 --> 00:50:14,700 the Mesolithic bison 788 00:50:14,700 --> 00:50:16,900 actually cuts through her, 789 00:50:16,900 --> 00:50:18,300 so she is older. 790 00:50:18,300 --> 00:50:20,700 She is probably Palaeolithic. 791 00:50:20,700 --> 00:50:24,860 This is such an early representation of the female form. 792 00:50:30,300 --> 00:50:32,740 What was their purpose? 793 00:50:32,740 --> 00:50:35,580 Are these images part of a religion? 794 00:50:35,580 --> 00:50:38,100 And what drew people to make those 795 00:50:38,100 --> 00:50:41,980 images precisely here in this shattered world? 796 00:50:46,060 --> 00:50:47,740 Oh, my gosh. 797 00:50:56,980 --> 00:51:01,420 I'm finding it intensely moving, being in this ancient site, 798 00:51:01,420 --> 00:51:05,780 with the Caspian Sea behind me and the evidence of those incredible 799 00:51:05,780 --> 00:51:07,780 natural resources, gas and oil. 800 00:51:08,940 --> 00:51:11,500 But when I look at these carvings in the rock, 801 00:51:11,500 --> 00:51:15,060 they remind me that human beings have been drawn here for shelter, 802 00:51:15,060 --> 00:51:18,740 for the wealth of the sea, the riches of the earth, 803 00:51:18,740 --> 00:51:22,940 and for a chance to express themselves artistically and creatively, 804 00:51:22,940 --> 00:51:24,980 for over 15,000 years. 805 00:51:27,260 --> 00:51:31,460 A landscape like this can never really change. 806 00:51:31,460 --> 00:51:35,700 All human beings can do is leave their marks upon it. 807 00:51:35,700 --> 00:51:38,580 And there's something else we've been saving till dusk - 808 00:51:38,580 --> 00:51:43,420 more evidence of the extraordinary nature of the landscape and geology 809 00:51:43,420 --> 00:51:45,300 that surrounds Baku. 810 00:51:46,460 --> 00:51:48,980 It's a hill called Yanar Dag, 811 00:51:48,980 --> 00:51:52,180 where the earth burns, perpetually... 812 00:51:53,940 --> 00:51:57,380 ..and has for thousands of years. 813 00:51:57,380 --> 00:51:59,100 I've been so excited about coming here. 814 00:51:59,100 --> 00:52:00,620 I know. And there it is! 815 00:52:00,620 --> 00:52:02,380 That is magic! 816 00:52:02,380 --> 00:52:04,620 Fire coming out of the ground! 817 00:52:04,620 --> 00:52:07,300 I mean, this is Azerbaijan, the land of fire. 818 00:52:07,300 --> 00:52:09,980 Yeah. And at last, literally, we're seeing this stuff. 819 00:52:15,620 --> 00:52:17,540 Well, this is one of the most 820 00:52:17,540 --> 00:52:20,020 extraordinary things I have ever seen. 821 00:52:20,020 --> 00:52:24,340 It feels like it must be some sort of man-made entertainment, 822 00:52:24,340 --> 00:52:29,220 but it isn't. You know, the story is that this hillside has been burning like this for millennia. 823 00:52:33,500 --> 00:52:37,820 To me, even in our modern day, this is quite a spiritual experience. 824 00:52:37,820 --> 00:52:39,860 I'm finding this quite a spiritual thing, 825 00:52:39,860 --> 00:52:44,740 to see fire coming out of the earth, naturally, and so, Zoroastrianism, 826 00:52:44,740 --> 00:52:48,780 that religion that goes back around this area... 827 00:52:48,780 --> 00:52:52,780 Of course, you know, if you're seeing fire appear out of the earth, 828 00:52:52,780 --> 00:52:56,180 you're going to create a religious framework where fire is central. 829 00:52:56,180 --> 00:52:58,820 It's funny, the more time we spend by these flames, 830 00:52:58,820 --> 00:53:01,700 in a sense the more sacred they become, 831 00:53:01,700 --> 00:53:04,980 but it's also making me think about how ingenious, 832 00:53:04,980 --> 00:53:07,260 enterprising we are as a species, mankind, 833 00:53:07,260 --> 00:53:10,940 that somehow people have been able to harness and tap this natural 834 00:53:10,940 --> 00:53:13,860 resource, turn it into something economically profitable 835 00:53:13,860 --> 00:53:16,100 which completely defines and shapes a culture, 836 00:53:16,100 --> 00:53:19,940 and at the same time I feel quite humble being here, 837 00:53:19,940 --> 00:53:23,580 because these flames supposedly have been burning for thousands of years 838 00:53:23,580 --> 00:53:26,460 on this hillside, and that's quite a sobering thought, in a way. 839 00:53:26,460 --> 00:53:28,380 As I say, humbling. 840 00:53:28,380 --> 00:53:33,420 Yeah, I think being here is making me feel quite insignificant, 841 00:53:34,140 --> 00:53:38,420 actually, in the tides of thousands of years of natural resources. 842 00:53:38,420 --> 00:53:41,100 Yeah, humble's definitely the word. Amazing. 843 00:53:44,140 --> 00:53:46,380 It's a wonderful place. 844 00:53:46,380 --> 00:53:49,620 We linger until the darkness has fallen completely, 845 00:53:49,620 --> 00:53:52,340 the better to enjoy the flames. 846 00:53:52,340 --> 00:53:55,980 They are beautiful but inescapable. 847 00:53:55,980 --> 00:54:00,100 This geology of oil and gas and fire was always going to shape the 848 00:54:00,100 --> 00:54:04,260 culture, identity, history of any human beings who settled here. 849 00:54:07,140 --> 00:54:10,740 No wonder that when the time came for the construction of the other 850 00:54:10,740 --> 00:54:13,940 bold architectural statement that Baku's famous for, 851 00:54:13,940 --> 00:54:17,100 they were inspired by the curve of living flames. 852 00:54:19,060 --> 00:54:24,100 At night, the Flame Towers' linked LED displays flicker with the patterns of fire itself, 853 00:54:26,740 --> 00:54:30,860 and proudly wave the flag first sewn in 1990. 854 00:54:37,020 --> 00:54:38,700 We're back in town. 855 00:54:38,700 --> 00:54:42,780 Before we go, we are heading for a performance of Azerbaijan's national 856 00:54:42,780 --> 00:54:44,820 folk music, mugham. 857 00:54:46,620 --> 00:54:49,140 We're expecting fire here, too. 858 00:54:49,140 --> 00:54:51,940 I've heard its spirit is captured in 859 00:54:51,940 --> 00:54:54,780 a line by a 16th-century Azeri poet. 860 00:54:54,780 --> 00:54:58,620 "May my miserable soul be lit by the fire of love." 861 00:55:00,780 --> 00:55:05,860 THEY PLAY AND SING MUGHAM 862 00:55:37,300 --> 00:55:39,500 It's wonderful music and, yes, 863 00:55:39,500 --> 00:55:43,940 just like a fire, it flares up and dies down again. 864 00:55:46,340 --> 00:55:49,460 It's an ancient music with Persian roots, 865 00:55:49,460 --> 00:55:53,740 and it reminds me of Azerbaijan's own complicated history. 866 00:55:53,740 --> 00:55:57,940 All of those conquests, good reasons to grieve, 867 00:55:57,940 --> 00:56:00,300 then rise above the grief. 868 00:56:30,500 --> 00:56:33,500 We have come out of a beautifully warm mugham club. 869 00:56:33,500 --> 00:56:34,740 Can I say this is madness? 870 00:56:34,740 --> 00:56:37,540 Yeah. I don't know about you, but, you know, this was, 871 00:56:37,540 --> 00:56:41,260 of all the places we've been to, the city I knew least about before coming. 872 00:56:41,260 --> 00:56:45,380 I think what's really struck me is that its location on the edge of the 873 00:56:45,380 --> 00:56:48,220 Caspian, looking north towards Russia, 874 00:56:48,220 --> 00:56:51,700 looking west towards Europe and Turkey, and then, you know, 875 00:56:51,700 --> 00:56:53,860 east towards the Islamic world, 876 00:56:53,860 --> 00:56:58,740 all of that has had an impact on the identity of Azerbaijan. 877 00:56:58,740 --> 00:57:01,340 You know, there's this sense of deep history that you've seen, 878 00:57:01,340 --> 00:57:05,420 the rock art. And then at the same time it's all about now. 879 00:57:05,420 --> 00:57:09,380 You know, this is so much a country that's trying to project its prestige 880 00:57:09,380 --> 00:57:11,820 on the international stage at the moment. 881 00:57:11,820 --> 00:57:16,860 It's clearly a moment when the people ruling the country are keen to define that identity, 882 00:57:17,340 --> 00:57:21,900 and consequently it's presenting this quite glossy, shiny, sleek, 883 00:57:21,900 --> 00:57:25,380 perhaps not wholly attractive facade to the rest of the world. 884 00:57:25,380 --> 00:57:28,060 And in a sense I'm drawn more to places like this. 885 00:57:28,060 --> 00:57:30,540 Yeah. The Old City. The wonderful mugham tradition. 886 00:57:30,540 --> 00:57:32,980 And the dynamic is surprising in mugham in the same way 887 00:57:32,980 --> 00:57:34,220 that Baku has surprised. 888 00:57:34,220 --> 00:57:36,540 HE SINGS MUGHAM 889 00:57:57,380 --> 00:58:00,380 MUSIC SLOWS DOWN AND GETS QUIETER 890 00:58:03,900 --> 00:58:07,340 MUSIC GETS FASTER AND LOUDER AND COMES TO AN END 891 00:58:08,980 --> 00:58:11,300 APPLAUSE