Flame Towers

Three blue-glass skyscrapers shaped like tongues of flame, the Flame Towers stand on the ridge above the Old City and have been the city's signature skyline since they opened in 2012. The tallest is just over 180 metres. They hold a Fairmont hotel, residential apartments, and offices, with viewpoints accessible only to hotel guests.

For travellers, the towers are best appreciated from outside — from the Highland Park below them, from the seafront promenade looking up, or from the funicular that climbs the hill alongside. The fire imagery is no accident: Azerbaijan's old Zoroastrian fire temples and naturally burning hillsides are the city's ancient brand.

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After dark the towers run an LED display across their entire glass surface — one minute they look like enormous candles, the next they show a national flag rippling across all three buildings. The light show runs every evening on a roughly thirty-second loop.