Baku Crystal Hall

The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following the country's victory at the 2011 contest with the song "Running Scared" by Ell and Nikki. It was the first time Azerbaijan hosted the contest – only four years after the country made its debut. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster İctimai Television (İTV), the contest was held at the Baku Crystal Hall, and consisted of two semi-finals on 22 and 24 May, and a final on 26 May 2012. The three live shows were presented by Azerbaijani television presenter Leyla Aliyeva, model Nargiz Birk-Petersen and the previous edition's winner Eldar Gasimov.Forty-two countries participated in the contest. Montenegro returned to the contest for the first time since 2009. Meanwhile, Armenia withdrew due to security concerns in relation to the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan. Poland also did not participate due to financial concerns. The winner was Sweden with the song "Euphoria", performed by Loreen and written by Thomas G:son and Peter Boström. Russia, Serbia, host country Azerbaijan and Albania rounded out the top five, with Albania achieving their best result to date. Out of the "Big Five" countries, Germany, Italy and Spain all managed to rank within the top 10, finishing eighth, ninth and tenth, respectively. The lead-up to the contest was met with political concerns and protests surrounding the host country, including its human rights record and allegations by advocacy groups that Baku was carrying out forced evictions in the construction of the contest's venue, along with objections to the contest's presence by Iranian officials – who felt that the event was anti-Islamic because it was, according to them, a "gay parade".

National Flag Square (Azerbaijani: Dövlət Bayrağı Meydanı) is a large city square off Neftchiler Avenue in Bayil, Baku, Azerbaijan. A flag measuring 70 by 35 metres (230 by 115 feet) flew on a free–standing flagpole in the square, 162 m (531 ft) high. The flagpole was confirmed as the world's tallest flagpole by the Guinness Book of Records upon its inauguration in 2010, but was soon overtaken by the 165 m Dushanbe Flagpole in Tajikistan on 24 May 2011. Both flagpoles were built by the same American affiliated company, Trident Support. The flagpole in the square was the third tallest flagpole in the world. National Flag Square covers 60 hectares (150 acres) overall. The area of the upper part is 3 hectares (7.4 acres). The square features the state symbols of Azerbaijan—the coat of arms and the anthem—and a map of the country.

Bay of Baku (Baku Bay) is a natural harbor of the Baku port and local yacht club, on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula and on the western shore of the Caspian Sea.

Sabayil Castle is a submerged medieval fortress on the coast of the Caspian Sea near Baku, Azerbaijan. The castle is named after the surrounding area of Bayil. The structure is also known as the "Atlantis of the Caspian Sea". Research scientists have referred to it as Sabayil castle, Bayil castle or Bandargala, and have described it as an underground town, caravanserai, cloister, monastery, custom house or defence castle.

Baku Ferris Wheel, also known as the Baku Eye and Devil's Wheel (Azerbaijani: Şeytan çarxı), is a ferris wheel on Baku Boulevard in the Seaside National Park of Baku, capital of Azerbaijan.The wheel was built by the Dutch company Dutch Wheels. It was opened 10 March 2014 by Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, and opened to the public two days later.The wheel is 60 metres (200 ft) tall and has 30 enclosed cabins, each holding eight people, except for two VIP cabinets for four people. It makes a complete turn in 30 to 40 minutes. The cabins of the Ferris Wheel are equipped with air conditioners. Small monitors have been set up so that passengers can spend their time entertaining. The doors of the attraction are opened and closed in a centralized manner in order to ensure safety. At the same time, with this purpose all the cabinets are covered with transparent glass constructions. There are special ladders for each cabinet, which is designed to facilitate the evacuation of passengers in the case of any malfunction in the attraction. Users of "Satan's Ride" have the opportunity to gaze the Baku Bay, the Flag Square, the Crystal Hall and the whole city.

Rinay is a malacological museum of natural history in Baku, Azerbaijan. It is also the first private museum in the country.The museum exhibits approximately 5,000 clam shells (the shells of bivalve molluscs) from 86 genera worldwide. The museum also displays hundreds of fossil clam shells. Some of these were obtained by exchange from the Austrian, Canadian, Argentine, Spanish, German, Ukrainian, Russian, Turkish and Indonesian paleontological university museums.The basis for the museum collection was laid down in the early 1930s by Sadykh Karayev, an Honored Engineer and Honored Inventor of the USSR. Karayev's clam shell collection was preserved by his wife Prof. Jeyran Ibadova, and was transferred from Rinay to the History Museum of Azerbaijan in June 2007. Sadykh Karayev's son Tofik Karayev continued the effort to improve his father's collection. T. Karayev previously worked at the Geological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan SSR. He systematized the collection and conducted a taxonomic revision of modern molluscs. In 1989, the museum received official status.

The Aquatic Palace is a sporting venue in Baku, Azerbaijan, which is fully compliant with the requirements of the International Swimming Federation (FINA). The Palace hosted the Baku 2015 European Games and Baku 2017 4th Islamic Solidarity Games. The Aquatic Palace has three swimming pools. One pool is an Olympic-size swimming pool and was designed for different types of competitions at local and international levels. The length of the pool for diving is 25 meters in height and 20 meters in width and has a five-stage platform for high board diving from a height of 3, 5, 7, 5 and 10 meters. 6,000-10,000 spectators can watch sports competitions, concerts at the palace. The palace also has sectors for VIP, media and the disabled. İn one part of the roof of the building used special panoramic glass panels which can convert solar energy into electricity. The generated electricity will be used for energy supply to some sections of the Palace.

House-Museum of Mammed Said Ordubadi is a museum created in the house where well-known Azerbaijani writer Mammed Said Ordubadi lived and worked. The museum is located in Khagani street 19, Baku.

House Museum of Bulbul (Azerbaijani: Bülbülün ev muzeyi) or Memorial Museum of Bulbul (Azerbaijani: Bülbülün xatirə muzeyi) is a historic house museum of famous Azerbaijani Soviet singer Bulbul. The memorial museum was created in 1976 on the personal initiative of Heydar Aliyev and the museum had a ceremonial opening in 1982. The museum is located in Bulbul 15, Sabail, Baku.

Bukhta-Ilicha (also, Bukhta-Il’icha) is a village in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Bayil (Azerbaijani: Bayıl; also known as Bailov and Bailovo) is a settlement in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Baku Boulevard (Azerbaijani: Dənizkənarı Milli Park, also known as National Park) is a promenade established in 1909 which runs parallel to Baku's seafront. Its history goes back more than 100 years, to a time when Baku oil barons built their mansions along the Caspian shore and when the seafront was artificially built up inch by inch.