In pictures | Strategic object: Baku’s years of transformation 

Since the 19th century, Azerbaijan’s wealth has come from oil. Baku, its oil-pumping epicentre, curls around the Caspian Sea and has become a focal point for those following apparent dreams of prosperity, drawing over half the population, five out of nine million people, into the city. 

Since the second oil boom of 2005, Azerbaijan’s ever-expanding capital has continued its rapid transformation. 

As the sun breaks, the dawn light outlines the city’s newly newbuilt skyline of shiny skyscrapers, hotels, and shopping malls. Traces of old Soviet city planning are dwarfed against mushrooming luxury apartments, commercial centres and renovated cultural sites – a playground for the Bakuvian elite and foreign oil workers alike. It’s impressive and has all the trappings of any modern metropolis. 

Remodelled public spaces offer the appearance of prosperous globalisation. But despite the glitz, the country is deeply unequal and behind the billboards and sandstone walls many struggle to get by.