Every day we see people observing the city from the top of the Maiden Tower. In order to get to the top of the tower, most of the visitors pass through the eight floors, and they in fact don't think that they have left eight layers of the great secret behind. All the layers of the tower with 28m height are the treasury reflecting the secrets hidden in the history. The Tower has a round shape, and each floor that is ready to open its secrets to visitors becomes narrower while going up. As usual, we've never listened to the stones that keep in themselves the vitality formula of our national memory; we've simply passed through the narrow entrance room, stepped up the stairs, reached the open area on the top of the tower and looked at our city. But we've never thought about the fact that the memory of the city and its inhabitants are kept in every stone of the eighth floor of the nine-storeyed tower from the top of which we look at the city. The tower has been acting as a museum since 1964 and is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List of Historical Monuments as cultural property.

When we stepped in, it seemed as if we moved through mysterious fog. First of all our guide stated some necessary facts about the history of the tower: 'If you look attentively at the Maiden Tower you can see that it consists of two different parts. The construction materials of these two parts differ. The Tower was built in two different periods. The lower part of the tower with a smooth wall up to 12 meters is older and dates back to the VIII-VII centuries BC. It was built during the period of Sumer. It relied on religious principles. It was a cylindrical construction. There were stairs leading up along the inner wall."  

As it was stated the Maiden Tower was built in the XII century, but this date is completely incorrect. Architect Masud Davudoghlu built the Tower, and the construction was completed that century. Masud Davudoghlu wrote the words 'Gulleyi-Masud' in Kufi on the upper part of the Tower. The Tower mainly served the purpose of a watch tower. But Masud was the architect of the Muslim Renaissance period, therefore he reflected the mysteries of the Eastern architecture while constructing the Maiden Tower. The Tower was built on solid rock foundation, and one more noteworthy fact is that the Tower, when it is observed from above, is nothing else but a figure '9' with its leg directed towards the sea.

Of course, the point is not whether the Tower looks like the figure '9' or not.  

There's an electronic board on the second floor informing visitors about the purposes of this construction. The Tower was restored in 2014, and it is safe to say that among the fixed virtual boards in the Tower, the sufficient ones are on this floor. Three electronic boards with high effective visions inform visitors about the three functions of the Maiden Tower. According to the animations demonstrated on the first board, the monument was the Zoroastrians' praying place then. This fact found further confirmation in the Russian military-engineering maps of the XIX century. They titled the Maiden Tower as 'Khunsar', which means 'Ansar Sun' or "The Sun Castle."  

The board effects indicate that the Maiden Tower was the sacred place for those who worshipped the sun. According to some scientists, the considerable elements of the Tower were used for the observation of the annual solar and star cycles, and played an important role in the lives of ancient people of that time.

The second board demonstrates animations that confirm the Maiden Tower's defensive nature. The Maiden Tower became a museum in 1964, and it was mainly introduced to visitors as a defensive construction.  The remnants of weapons and wooden pieces found during the archaeological excavations held in the Tower once again confirms that the tower was built for the defensive purpose. Lab results discovered that too thick and tall timbers had been used during the construction.

On December 22, 2008, during the observation of the Maiden Tower, the scientists discovered a very strange thing: there are eight windows in the Tower out of which four upper windows are located in such a disposition that on December 22, on the winter solstice, the sun shoots its beams through these windows and lightens the inside of the tower. It is thought that on the shortest day of winter the priests carried out religious rituals. The fact that the sun shoots its beams through these windows only once a year is astonishing.

Another notable structure observed in the Tower is a water well that was discovered on the second floor of the Tower. The well is seen only on the first and third floors, but not on the second floor, and this is an architectural secret of the Tower. Presently there is water in the well. According to the water quality analyses received from foreign laboratories, the chemical composition of the water is clean, and it is drinkable though close to the Caspian Sea.

The fifth floor is titled as the 'cell of legends.' There are several virtual electronic boards in a book form related to the history of the Maiden Tower. It is a sensor 'book', and by touching it tourists can change the pages and get acquainted with any legend on the Maiden

Tower.

The sixth floor mainly displays exhibit items that reflect the Tower's defensive function.

Elmin NURİ