When Baku’s oil industry boomed in the late 1800s, a new architectural layer appeared around the Old City. Blending Gothic, baroque, neoclassical and art nouveau, these buildings nonetheless blended harmoniously into the urban landscape, leading visitors to nickname Baku the ‘Paris of the Caucasus’. Largely ignored during the Soviet era, local enthusiasts have since thoroughly researched these oil-boom buildings, shaping their secrets into thrilling architectural walking tours. Many of them were designed by German and Polish architects, lending parts of central Baku a distinctly European feel. For the most prominent example of German architecture in Baku, visit the neo-Gothic style Church of the Saviour on 28 May Street.
