On a rocky rise beside Baku’s historic waterfront, the Maiden Tower stands apart from the city’s newer avenues and high-rise skyline. Known in Azerbaijani as Qız Qalası, it is one of the defining monuments of Icherisheher, the Walled City that forms Baku’s historic core. Its rounded stone mass is instantly recognizable, but the tower is more than a photogenic silhouette: its unusual form, masonry and position have made it a subject of archaeological and architectural debate for generations.
The tower’s dimensions are striking in person. The state reserve’s Azerbaijani-language monument record describes a stone cylinder built on an outcrop of coastal rock, 28 metres high on one side and 31 metres on the other, with a diameter of 16.5 metres. The difference in height follows the uneven ground rather than indicating separate storeys above the surrounding streets. The walls are about five metres thick at the base and 4.5 metres near the top, a massive profile that helps explain why the building has long been read as a fortified structure.