This week’s World Heritage Site of the Week is an ancient walled city in the country of Azerbaijan.  The Walled City of Baku has been inhabited since the Paleolithic period. Over the centuries, the  city has been  Zoroastrian, Sasanian, Arabic, Persian, Shirvani, Ottoman, and Russian.

The buildings in the Old City are believed to date back to the 12th century AD, and include minarets, bathhouses, a palace and a tower. One of the main features is the Palace of the Shirvanshahs,  an intricate stone palace build in the 15th  century.  Another landmark is the Maiden Tower, a round stone tower that dates back to the 12 century, possibly earlier. Once a watchtower, it has been turned into a museum.

The site was made into a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. The UNESCO website says it made the list because it “represents an outstanding and rare example of an historic urban ensemble and architecture with influence from Zoroastrian, Sassanian, Arabic, Persian, Shirvani, Ottoman, and Russian cultures.”

US citizens traveling to Azerbaijan need both a US passport and an Azerbaijan visa. Here’s what you need to get an Azerbaijan tourist visa:

• 1 completed  visa application form
• 2 passport photos
• A tourist voucher from a  hotel in Azerbaijan with a confirmation number.

A visa expediting company like RushMyTravelVisa.com can help you with your Azerbaijan visa application and can forward it to the appropriate embassy or consulate. We can also research your itinerary to determine what types of visas you will need for your trip, and can help you apply for any other visas, including travel visas, that might be required.

Apply for your Azerbaijan visa with us today!

Tags: Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan visa

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 16th, 2010 at 10:23 pm and is filed under World Heritage Site of the Week. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.