Azerbaijan Udi Hearth

The Azerbaijan Udi Hearth is a historical and ethnographic park-museum in the village of Nij, in Azerbaijan's Qabala district, dedicated to the culture of the Udi people. Nij holds the largest surviving Udi community in the world; the Udi are a Christian people who trace their descent to the tribes of ancient Caucasian Albania, a state that existed across much of present-day Azerbaijan roughly between the fourth century BC and the eighth century AD, and they continue to speak an endangered language closely related to that of the ancient Albanians. The museum functions as a living showcase of Udi heritage, presenting traditional dress, household objects, customs and crafts alongside explanations of the community's language and Christian traditions, which also survive nearby in the restored Church of Saint Elisæus. It gives visitors a rare, concentrated introduction to one of the Caucasus's smallest and most distinct ethnic minorities.