On the corner of one of the busiest streets in downtown Baku sits a lonely old man with a small wooden crate in front of him. Make no mistake, he is no beggar.

The human body has been seen as a repository of ideas and values across  eras and cultures. It has revealed the divinity of beauty, encapsulated notions of faith and fertility, embodied the supernatural. 

Expensive food is not necessarily tasty. Take caviar: Lali Lobjanidze and Gulnara Mekhtiyeva grew up hating it. Until the break-up of the Soviet Union, Lobjanidze’s mother worked in a caviar-processing factory and the precious delicacy was a daily staple.  

If there are ever any doubts about 54-year-old Elman Zalkhayev’s cultural lineage, he’s got the Soviet-era identity card to prove it. Proudly, he points to the line that identifies him as Avar. 

Today the movement has gotten so strong that it has succeeded in changing how people perceive the nightlife in Baku.

As pollution levels rise, Azerbaijanis, especially the younger generation, are increasingly interested in environmental issues.