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How Baku’s Old City is preserving history while embracing the future

Discover how Icherisheher combines heritage conservation, sustainable urban management and community life to protect one of the region's oldest historic cities.

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READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/07/23/how-bakus-old-city-is-preserving-history-while-embracing-the-future

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00:00A modern city needs memory just as much as it needs innovation.
00:07Without innovation, cities stop growing.
00:10Without memory, they lose their identity.
00:19The challenges facing historic cities have changed,
00:22and so must the way we manage them.
00:25Today, protecting heritage is not only about conserving monuments,
00:31it's about managing an entire living urban ecosystem.
00:37At Hrishar, we call our approach a smart reserve.
00:41It's a model where conservation, community, technology
00:46and sustainable urban management work together.
00:54We don't restore buildings simply to preserve their appearance.
00:58We restore them so they can continue contributing to the life of the city.
01:04For us, successful restoration is when heritage regains its function,
01:10not just its work.
01:12Historic cities should never become islands separated from modern urban life.
01:18We don't see heritage and development as opposing forces.
01:23They strengthen one another.
01:25Today, protecting heritage is not only about conserving monuments,
01:28it's about managing an entire living urban ecosystem.
01:33Our ambition is to ensure that Hrishar continues to thrive for generations to come.
01:43In fact, what brought Baku's inner city or citadel to life was not oil.
01:49What really brought the place to life were two important things.
01:53One of them was a very nice harbor, excellent port, actually the best port in the Caspian.
02:01And on the other hand, it was proximity to the trading routes.
02:04Baku was a trans-shipment center.
02:07And it was one of the ramifications of the Great Soul Cruise.
02:11Well, like many of Oriental citadels, the inner town of Baku may, at first glance,
02:19get an impression of a very irregular planning.
02:22But I always call it irregular regularity.
02:26In a sense that, well, the shape of streets, it looks very chaotic.
02:30But there is a kind of inner logics.
02:33The invader, should it come through the walls, will get lost in this absolutely,
02:39well, kind of hedge-patched sort of planning, where only the local people were good in.
02:45Because what never changed throughout centuries was this layout of these curvilinear streets of Baku's citadel,
02:52which shows that this planning had really passed the test of time.
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