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TorgovayaNizami St. · Baku
RUAZENHE
The beginning

History

From the post-fire city plan to the main shopping street of the oil capital.

The beginning

A street born of oil

The history of Torgovaya begins in the mid-19th century. After Baku became the centre of a province, in 1864 the city received a regular plan — and among the new streets appeared a trade street, along which shops and offices opened. So the name 'Torgovaya' ('trade street') took hold.

The true flourishing came with the oil boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Industrialists grown rich on oil built lavish apartment houses and mansions here, inviting the finest architects. The street became the showcase of a wealthy, fast-growing Baku.

Milestones

Through time

1864
The city plan
After Baku becomes a provincial centre, the city receives a regular plan; a trade street with shops and offices appears.
1879
Gubernskaya
The street is officially renamed Gubernskaya, but among the people its familiar name — 'Torgovaya' — remains.
Late 19th c.
The oil boom
Oil millionaires — Musa Naghiyev, Shamsi Asadullayev, Murtuza Mukhtarov — build lavish houses on the street, inviting the finest architects.
Early 20th c.
The showcase of Baku
The street is built up with buildings in the spirit of eclecticism, neo-Gothic and Baroque; shops, banks and theatres open here.
1962
The name Nizami
The street takes the name of the classic of Azerbaijani poetry Nizami Ganjavi, by which it is known to this day.
Today
The pedestrian zone
The central part of the street is made pedestrian: from Fountains Square stretches a promenade — a favourite place to stroll for locals and visitors.
Heritage

The memory of the oil capital

Torgovaya is a living monument of the era when oil turned Baku into one of the richest cities of the region. Its facades keep the names of the barons and architects, and the street itself remembers how generations of Bakuvians strolled along it.

Today the old houses sit beside modern shop windows, but the spirit of the street has remained the same: it is still the heart of the city, where people come to see Baku and to be seen.