Summer 2006 (14.2)

The Atashgah Fire Temple near Baku. The Nobel Brothers incorporated the design of this monument into their company logo. The temple was constructed above natural gas fissures in the ground. This monument is a holy site for Parsees from India, who built it as a pilgrimage site in the 18th-19th centuries. They are descended from believers in Zoroastrianism who use the symbol of fire as an integral part of their worship. Zoroastrians usually pray in front of some form of fire (or any source of light), but they do not worship fire itself. Fire to them is used simply as symbol and point of focus, much like the cross in Christianity. Upper corner: the first oil tanker in the history of oil transportation was built by the Nobel Brothers Petroleum Company in Baku in the late 1800s and named Zoroaster.