At the turn of the 20th Century Baku was an astonishing place. An outpost of the Russian Imperial Empire on the Caspian Sea, its newly-minted local and foreign oil tycoons had transformed the city from a sleepy oriental trading-post in the desert into a throbbing international city. A bloody revolution resulted in a brief shining period of democracy before it was crushed by the Bolsheviks. Under Soviet control for 70 years, Baku is now rediscovering its former glory as it draws on its position as the bridge between east and west, and its rich and varied history.