Gala Museum Complex ready to welcome Baku 2015 guests

/By AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

As many museums and nature reserves in Azerbaijan, the Gala Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum Complex is also ready to welcome the guests of the inaugural European Games, which the country will host on June 12-28.

Gala, with its five thousand years of history is one of the most ancient villages of Absheron Peninsula. Once, the village was the largest settlement of the Peninsula. According to some information, the name of the village: Gala (Tower) was given because it was believed to be invincible.

Ancient burial mounds, tombstones, settlements, places of worship and a number of other artifacts related to III -II millennium BC were found in the village.

The Museum Complex was established here in 2008. There visitors can familiarize themselves with the lifestyle, traditions and customs of Baku’s villages.

The Museum of 1.2 hectares square preserves the antique monuments in the open air. In total, the village of Gala hosts 216 monuments.

The complex includes five mosques, three baths, houses, agricultural buildings, graves, tombs, burial mounds and the remains of a fortress, etc.

Visitors can see rock paintings found on the Absheron Peninsula, Gaval Dash [musical gemstone], ceramics, household items, jewelry, weapons and coins, ruins of the ancient settlement, covering an extensive period from III, II millennium BC to the Middle Ages.

The guests will also enjoy the working process of professional artists in the ceramic and carpet weaving workshops.

An ancient wedding place and a model of merchant’s house will help tourists clearly fall into that era.

A house built in Gala village in 1810, belonging to an unknown merchant will also be an interesting place for visitors. Here, guests will have an opportunity to use the ancient Azerbaijani cooking tradition: to roll out the dough and bake lavash (a kind of the national bread) at saj [sheet metal, originally used for baking bread].

A very entertaining trip on a phaeton will cheer you up and give a chance to better get acquainted with the complex.

In order to provide tourists with a quality tour service, museum’s all guides underwent language courses to improve on their knowledge.

Visitors will also have a chance to use the museum’s audio guides, which will ensure them with detailed information about the museums.

The museum will operate from 9:00 am till 9:00 pm.

Baku 2015 is both a historic sport event in the history of Azerbaijan and that of Europe. Over 6,000 athletes from 50 countries are getting ready to compete for medals in 20 sports, including 16 Olympic in Baku this summer.