G e o_s y n_c h r o n i_c i t y

Carpet showroom, old Baku, Azerbaijan, June 1999

I had just moved from St Petersburg, Russia to the capital of former Soviet Azerbaijan, and didn't yet know it but was bound for Georgia. My 6-month stay in Azerbaijan was, of course, interesting - being that its Islam is Shiite and it is just north of Iran, I expected its women to be dressed as Iranian women would be, head to foot in black. Ah, but this country was only recently (1991) independent from the USSR... so, more like anything goes dress-wise, particularly in cosmopolitan Baku.

I admit that Azerbaijan didn't grab me photographically the way that Georgia has, but I did my best to find things worthy of my lenses.

The city of Baku is "only" about 1000 years old, but has a beautiful old quarter, where I found these carpets on display in the open air. In both frames the upper right area has a symmetry-breaking Lenin carpet.