Agdam is a city in Southern Azerbaijan. It was abandoned during the first Nagorno-Karabakh war in the 1990s and long remained a ghost town. In the 2020s, Azerbaijan undertook an ambitious project to rebuild and resettle the city.

Understand

Agdam was completely deserted and left in ruins in the 1990s when Azeris lost the city to Armenian forces during the war which saw the Azeri loss of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan regained control in 2020 and undertook the city's redevelopment, aiming to completely rebuild the city by 2050.

Get around

Try to locate the minarets of the Agdam Mosque and walk towards them. Climb to the top of a minaret in order to better orient yourself.

See

The mosque survived the conflict

The Agdam Mosque was one of the few buildings not destroyed during the siege. The bottom floors are inhabited by cattle, but you can escape the stench by climbing a terrifying flight of stairs to the top of one of the minarets. From the top of the minaret you will have an opportunity to see most of the abandoned city.

An old mural on the side of a building a few hundred meters from the mosque is a reminder of the city's once vibrant past. Difficult to find, but don't miss it.