Map - Mingachevir (Mingacevir City)

Mingachevir (Mingəçevir ) is the fourth-largest city in Azerbaijan with a population of about 106,000. It's often called the "city of lights" because of its hydroelectric power station on the Kur River, which divides the city down the middle.

The current city was founded in 1948, partly by German prisoners of war captured during World War II. Mingechevir is also home to Mingachevir Polytechnic Institute. The city forms an administrative division of Azerbaijan. The district is located 323 km from Baku and 17 km from the Baku-Tbilisi railway. Geographically, the region is located in the center of the republic on both sides of the Kura River.

The archaeological history of this area extends from the eneolith era (3000 BC) to the AD 17th century. In 1871, Adolf Berge, chairman of the Caucasus archaeological committee, gave information about the archaeological monuments of Mingachevir at the second congress of archaeologists in St Petersburg. wrongfully presenting Mingachevir as an ancient settlement. After this, Mingachevir remained out of archaeologists' attention until the mid-1930s when archaeological researches resumed as part of the construction of the hydroelectric power station. In 1935, researches under the leadership of Prof. Pakhomov revealed two ancient settlements and cemeteries, which were composed of various types of graves. Unfortunately, World War II prevented the research from being completed. The construction of the hydroelectric power station started immediately after the war. This marked the start of systematic and planned research of Mingachevir as an ancient settlement. Archaeological excavations were carried out from April 1946 to August 1953 by a group of archaeologists headed by S. M. Qaziyev in connection with the construction of the Mingachevir hydroelectric power station under a decision by the Supreme Board of the Azerbaijani Academy of Sciences. Over 20,000 historical monuments – graves and tumuli, means of production, things related to daily life, jewellery etc., which reflected historical periods in chronological sequence, were found during the excavations.

Most ancient written monuments in Caucasian Albanian alphabet and other archaeological finds proved that Mingachevir was a 5,000-year-old settlement. The majority of these finds are currently exhibited in the Azerbaijani Historical Museum, while part of them is held at the Mingachevir Historical Museum. Historical sources indicate that a fierce battle took place between the powerful army of Roman commander Pompey and the army of Albanian governor Oris just on the territory of the current dam on the bank of the River Kur in the 1st century BC. Historical facts also prove that the ancient Silk Road ran via Mingachevir.

Renowned Turkish traveller Evliya Çelebi, who lived in the 17th century AD, wrote about Mingachevir and described it as a large settlement on the right bank of the River Kur near the Bozdag Mountain. According to him, several mosques, workshops manufacturing fibre silk and silk cloth, bathhouses etc. were operating in this settlement. The road passing from there used to be called the "road of the messenger". The "road of the messenger" connected camelcase and trade roads to Middle East countries and Azerbaijani towns like Saki, Qabala, Samaxi, Barda, Beylaqan and others.

A great number of people came to Mingachevir from all districts in Azerbaijan in connection with the construction of the Mingachevir hydroelectric power station, and a total of 20,000 people took part in the construction of this power station. About 10,000 German POWs were among those who contributed to the construction of the power station by the end of the 1940s. The most experienced specialists of the country were involved in the construction of this building site as the biggest hydroelectric power station of the then Soviet Union.

Today's Mingachevir was granted the status of city in 1948. The population of the town currently stands at 120,000 people, including 20,000 Azerbaijani settlers from Karabakh. The area of the town is 139.53 km2. Mingachevir is situated 55 meters above sea level on the foothill of the southeast of the Bozdag Mountain chain and on the edge of the Mingachevir reservoir in the Kur-Araz lowland in central Azerbaijan. The town was built in a mild and warm zone and has warm and dry summers and mild winters. The average annual temperature is 14 - 15 °C, highest temperature 42 °C (July–August) and the lowest temperature (January–February) -10 °C. The average annual rainfall is 250–300 mm.

The town lies on both banks of the River Kur - a 1515 km-long river, which is the biggest and longest one in the South Caucasus. (The river originates from Turkey, runs down Georgia and Azerbaijan and flows to the Caspian Sea.) Mingachevir is situated 280–300 km west of the capital of the republic, Baku.

Mingachevir has been developing speedily over the last 54 years since it has been established. It is currently considered to be the fourth city of the country both for its economic potential and the number of inhabitants, it is one of the most important cities of the republic in terms of energy, industry, science, education and culture. The number of able-bodied people in Mingachevir is 53,000, while the number of people actually involved in labour is 16,000. The number of people engaged in small-sized businesses stands at 4,000 people