GABALA

Gabala or Qabala is the most ancient city of Azerbaijan and the capital of the Qabala Rayon of Azerbaijan. Before 1991 the city name was Kutkashen. But after Azerbaijan’s independence, the name of the town changed in honor of the much […]

Gabala or Qabala is the most ancient city of Azerbaijan and the capital of the Qabala Rayon of Azerbaijan. Before 1991 the city name was Kutkashen. But after Azerbaijan’s independence, the name of the town changed in honor of the much older city of Gabala.

Gabala town isn’t a great attraction. But there are attractive picnic spots. And streamside restaurants 4km north. Many more appealing villages lie in the surrounding valleys. You could hike into the high mountains from this valley.

Gabala’s center is the junction of Heydar Aliyev street and Qutqashinli pr, a point unanimously known as Saat Yani. That means ‘beside the clock’. It displays finds from Old Gabala. But its most intriguing feature is the fake Stone Age-style swing gate through which one enters. Next door is a typically grand, wordless Heydar Aliyev Museum.

History

Gabala is the ancient capital of Caucasian Albania. Archeological evidence indicates that the city functioned as the capital of Caucasian Albania as early as the fourth century BC. Ruins of the ancient town are in 15 km from the regional center. It allocated on the territory between Garachay and Jourluchay rivers. Gabala was located in the middle of the 2500 old Silk Road. And It was mentioned in works of Pliny the Younger as “Kabalaka”.

Old Gabala never recovered and the unguarded site was only rediscovered in 1959. There’s little to see apart from the stumps of two massive brick gate towers at the southern perimeter. Near the site’s northwest entrance, the delightful Qala Salbir Kafesi sits in pretty woodland beside a fishpond. The owner is keen to show the extraordinary collection of ancient coins. He apparently found while nosing around the ancient site.