Red Village (Qirmizi Qasaba)

Across the red-brick arches of the pedestrian bridge spanning the Qudiyalçay River, Qirmizi Qasaba rises in a distinctive sea of terracotta-tiled roofs against the Caucasus foothills. Established around 1742 under the protection of Fatali Khan, ruler of the Quba Khanate, this hillside settlement endured as the world’s last surviving all-Jewish shtetl outside Israel and the United States. The neighborhood’s grid-like lanes feature ornate, two-story brick estates outfitted with carved wooden balconies alongside restored places of worship, most notably the 19th-century Six Dome Synagogue (Altı Günbəz). Its cylindrical brick drums and hexagonal cupolas flood the central sanctuary with natural light, illuminating gilded Hebrew script, soaring arched windows, and intricate plaster mouldings. Stepping into the village feels like entering a preserved cultural redoubt where elders still converse in Juhuri, the ancient Persian-inflected dialect of the Mountain Jews. In adherence to local custom, travelers remove their shoes before crossing the threshold into the carpet-strewn prayer halls, where plush Quba rugs pad the floor beneath heavy velvet arks housing historic Torah scrolls. Nearby, within the vaulted interior of the repurposed Karchogi Synagogue, the Museum of Mountain Jews displays silver ceremonial daggers, traditional silk attire, and ancestral manuscripts. Wandering the quiet avenues, visitors encounter an atmosphere shaped by the steady murmur of evening prayers and the brisk mountain air drifting down from Shahdag.