Gobustan Rock Art Museum and Reserve
Petroglyph museum and open-air reserve with more than 6,000 carvings south-west of Baku.
The reserve was established in 1966 to protect the rock art of the Boyukdash, Kichikdash and Jingirdagh hills, about sixty kilometres south-west of Baku. Its 537 hectares carry more than 6,000 petroglyphs cut over a span of roughly 5,000 to 20,000 years, showing hunters and warriors, aurochs and goats, reed boats with rowers, camel caravans, ritual dances and sun symbols. Caves, camp sites and burials from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Middle Ages lie among the boulder fields, and the landscape was inscribed by UNESCO in 2007.
A purpose-built museum opened at the foot of the hills in 2011 and introduces the site before visitors walk the marked trails. Its displays use interactive screens, reconstructions and casts to explain how the carvings were made and dated, alongside excavated stone tools, ornaments and pottery. Two well-known features stand outside: a Latin inscription left by a Roman legionary in the first century AD, the easternmost yet found, and the gaval dash, a slab that rings like a tambourine when struck.
Highlights
- More than 6,000 petroglyphs across 537 hectares of hillside
- Interactive museum of 2011 with tools, casts and reconstructions
- First-century Roman inscription, the easternmost known
- Gaval dash, a natural stone that sounds like a tambourine
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