22/02/2020
Ateshgah is the fire temple which is located in Azerbaijan. Literally it means the throne of fire. The name refers to the fact that the site is situated atop a now-exhausted natural gas field, which once caused natural fires to spontaneously burn there as the gas emerged from seven natural surface vents.
First of all I would like to write briefly about this country that since ancient times has been called " The Land of Fire" and once in the history was the heart of The Great Silk Road.
The current fire temple is constructed by indian fireworshipers and merchants. Based on Persian and Sanskrit inscriptions found in the temple, was used as a Hindu and Zoroastrian place of worship.
In 1858, the great French novelist Alexander Dumas ("the father") (1802-1870), who is remembered for writing "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Three Mousketeers," visited the Caucasus. On his nine-month journey throughout the region, one of the places that captured his imagination was Atashgah, the Fire Temple located on the outskirts of Baku. Dumas wrote some of his impressions about it in his book, "Travels in the Caucasus" which was published the following year in Paris. Dumas challenged his fellow Frenchmen not to delay in visiting this site. He was right. Today the fire worshippers have long gone, and the flames are no longer spontaneously burning in the domed cupola. Today, the eternal flame is fed from gas channeled in through pipes. Here is the scene as Dumas witnessed it approximately 150 years ago.
"Great tongues of flame soared in the air from the hundreds of tiny round fissures in the ground. The wind would scatter the flames, curve them and then straighten them, spreading them along the ground and then lifting them up to heavens again. But it was impossible for the wind to extinguish them.
