The Alley of Martyrs in Baku: the cemetery of January 1990 above the bay

From Baku's boulevard you can see, at the top of the western hill, a portico with a flame. It is the end of the Alley of Martyrs, Şəhidlər Xiyabanı, a walk of graves lined up under cypresses where the city buried the dead of the night of 19 to 20 January 1990. You go up by funicular or on foot, walk it in silence and come out to the best view there is of the Caspian and the Flame Towers. It is by far the most solemn place in the city.

What happened in January 1990

In the last months of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan was seeing mass demonstrations for independence and the Karabakh conflict was worsening. On the night of 19 to 20 January 1990 Moscow declared a state of emergency and the army entered Baku with tanks. More than 130 civilians died. A few days later a million people followed the funerals up to this hill, until then a park. That date, Black January, is now a day of national mourning, and it is marked here every year.

What is on the alley

The graves of the victims of 1990, with portraits engraved in the stone, form the main row. Beside them are those of soldiers killed in the Karabakh war of the 1990s and, in a separate area, a monument to the Ottoman soldiers who entered Baku in 1918, next to the Turkish Martyrs' Mosque, built in the 1990s. At the end of the walk stands the eternal flame memorial of 1998, a stone portico open to the sea.

The view

The memorial sits on the edge of the hill and from there you see the whole bay: the boulevard, the old city, the port, the Flame Towers behind you. Many people come up for the view and find themselves in the cemetery; it is worth knowing what you are coming to. At dusk, with the flame lit and the city lighting up, is when it is busiest.

How to get up

There is a funicular from the boulevard to Highland Park, and from the upper station it is a five-minute walk. You can also walk up the park steps, about fifteen minutes. It is always open, there is no charge, and the obvious is expected: silence, discreet clothing and no posed photos on the graves.

Frequently asked questions