The City of Winds (Azerbaijani: Küləklər şəhəri) is an unofficial, literary name for Baku, mainly because it is windy almost throughout the year. The name derives from the ancient Persian name of this locality: بادکوبه (Bādkube, lit. "pounding winds"). There are two winds common to Baku: cold and rough Khazri and mild and gentle Gilavar. The former is associated with negativeness and the latter is associated with goodness, forming an important chain in Azerbaijani mythology and beliefs, related to the struggle of Good and Evil.
Despite having one of the dirtiest chemical industry centers of the former Soviet Union in one of its suburbs, Sumgait, Baku's air remains relatively clean because of the air purification process by these winds.
Famous quotes containing the words city and/or winds:
“Creation destroys as it goes, throws down one tree for the rise of another. But ideal mankind would abolish death, multiply itself million upon million, rear up city upon city, save every parasite alive, until the accumulation of mere existence is swollen to a horror.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“An image of its state;
The wings half spread for flight,
The breast thrust out in pride
Whether to play, or to ride
Those winds that clamour of approaching night.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)