In my travels, I have seen a great deal of churches, synagogues, and mosques. Nearly every city in every country seems to have some kind of house of worship. But yesterday, however, I came across something quite different. Just outside of the Azerbaijani capital of Baku happens to be a Zoroastrian fire worshiping temple, and of course I had to see it. I mean, all things considered, fire worshiping kind of makes sense. It cooks our food and keeps up warm through the winter. Plus you can actually see fire, just as you can see the flaming sun in the sky. I find that an important factor that many religions leave out. Anyway, I digress.

Therefore, with three friends, I got into a car and drove (technically sat while someone else drove) out to the site. We arrived in a large, yet mostly empty parking lot with gift shops to one side and a large structure (presumably the temple) made of sandstone to the other. We all walked over and paid the admission fee which was just 2 manat (1 euro) per person and we entered.

Inside, there was a large open courtyard with a structure built over a large flame in the center. Naturally, since it was a bit cold outside, we went there first to warm our hands. But unfortunately though, since it was quite windy, the flame moved a bit unpredictably and singed out hands a few times. After that, we decided we wanted to keep the rest of our fingers, so we decided to check out the rest of the place which consisted of several small rooms built within the walls of the complex.

As I walked into the first room, I was a bit surprised to find a lifesize figure of a shirtless, bearded old man, standing as if he were about to engage of a boxing match (see below). It turned out that he was not the only one because in nearly every room within the walls, there were life size figures set up to show how the temple was used long ago. This consisted of everything from merchants trading to people meditating, to a prison for 'non believers, to what looked like men hallusinating after drinking some psycadellic substance. There were even a few rooms set up as a museum with artifacts dating back to over 3000 years ago.

My friends and I stayed for a little while longer until something terrible (a large group of obnoxious tourists) showed up. Then we decided it was time to go. That said, if you're like me and find the idea of visiting an ancient Zoroastrian fire temple, I strongly recommend coming here and visiting. Anyway, please enjoy the pictures of life size figure below!