Gedabey

Overview

Gedabey (Azerbaijani: Gədəbəy; also Gadabay, Kedabek) is a mountain town and the capital of Gadabay District in western Azerbaijan, about 400 kilometres from Baku in the Lesser Caucasus (European Proceedings). It is best known for its nineteenth-century copper and gold mines, run by the Siemens brothers from 1865 to 1920, and for the Gedabek mine still worked today (Visions of Azerbaijan). The district had 95,756 residents at the 2019 census, with a 2025 estimate of 101,400 (CityPopulation).

The district sits in the midlands and highlands of the Lesser Caucasus, taking in the northern parts of Shahdagh Mount, part of the Bashkend-Dastafur depression and the Shamkir massif (AzerNews). Its largest rivers are the Akhinja, the Zayam and the Shamkir, and it holds 109 settlements — one city and 108 villages — in 20 municipalities (AzerNews; European Proceedings).

Copper, gold and the Siemens era

Copper ore was discovered at Gadabay in 1849, a copper smelter was built in 1855–1856, and the German Siemens brothers completed their purchase of the Gedabey mine in 1865, running it as a private family business until Soviet nationalisation in 1920 (European Proceedings; Visions of Azerbaijan). Werner von Siemens, Carl von Siemens, Walter von Siemens and Otto von Siemens worked the mine on Mis Dağı, Copper Mountain, built a smelter in 1865, and linked it to the mine by a six-kilometre narrow-gauge railway in 1873 (Visions of Azerbaijan). The operation supplied copper wire for the Indo-European Telegraph Line from London to Calcutta, and in 1879–1883 the brothers built the Gedabey–Galakent railway to a second smelting plant at Qalakend, with multi-arched viaducts over mountain rivers and sections cut through hard rock (Visions of Azerbaijan; Visions of Azerbaijan). Records for 1867–1914 show 58,000 tonnes of copper, over three tonnes of gold and 12 tonnes of silver produced, with Gedabey accounting for 20% of all copper production in the Russian Empire — a remote Caucasus valley once supplied a fifth of an empire’s copper (Visions of Azerbaijan).

Land, rivers and monuments

Gadabay’s landscape is mountain forest, mountain meadow and alpine ground, with broad-leaved forests in the midlands and subalpine and alpine meadows at the tops of the mountains (AzerNews). Goshabulag, at 3,549 metres, is the district’s highest peak named in the AzerNews account, and July temperatures range from +10 °C to +20 °C while January temperatures range from −2 °C to −10 °C (AzerNews). Mineral springs near Slavyanka village include Narzan, Mor-Mor and Chaldash, and the Shamkir River offers conditions for fishing (AzerNews). The district’s monuments include Cyclopean structures from the end of the Bronze Age, the Boyuk-gala fortress, the towers of Galakend-galasi from the sixteenth century, Giz-galasi from the ninth century, a nineteenth-century arched bridge, and Koroglu Castle, an eighteenth-century showplace whose walls are one metre thick (AzerNews). Beyukgala fortress at Soyudlu village belongs to the Iron Age and is listed among monuments of world importance (AzerNews).

The district today

As an administrative unit, Gadabay originated on 8 August 1930 under the name of Rustam Aliyev and was renamed Gadabay in 1938 (AzerNews). The district’s population fell from 78,100 in 1979 to 75,700 in 1989, then rose to 95,756 at the 2019 census, with a 2025 estimate of 101,400; in 2019 there were 47,913 males and 47,843 females, with 85,519 rural residents and 10,237 urban residents (CityPopulation). Modern mining continues on the same hill as the old Gedabey mine: Anglo Asian Mining’s Gedabek operation reported full-year 2024 production of 16,760 gold equivalent ounces, down from 31,821 in 2023, after full processing restarted (Anglo Asian Mining). The Siemens heritage survives: more than twenty railway arches remain on the Gedabey–Galakent route, the Culture House still serves as the town’s only library, and the old mine hill is still called Copper Hill, Mis Dağı (Visions of Azerbaijan; Visions of Azerbaijan).

Census or estimate	District population	Change
1979 census	78,100	—
1989 census	75,700	−2,400
2019 census	95,756	+20,056
2025 estimate	101,400	+5,644

Source: CityPopulation, sourcing the State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Gedabey? Gedabey is a mountain town in western Azerbaijan, the capital of Gadabay District in the Lesser Caucasus, about 400 kilometres from Baku. The district covers the northern parts of Shahdagh Mount, part of the Bashkend-Dastafur depression and the Shamkir massif, with the Akhinja, Zayam and Shamkir as its largest rivers.

What did the Siemens brothers do in Gedabey? The Siemens brothers — Werner, Carl, Walter and Otto — bought the Gedabey copper mine in 1865 and ran it privately until Soviet nationalisation in 1920. They built smelters, the Gedabey–Galakent railway, a hydroelectric plant and a petroleum pipeline, and produced 58,000 tonnes of copper between 1867 and 1914.

Is mining still active at Gedabek? Yes. Anglo Asian Mining’s Gedabek operation reported full-year 2024 production of 16,760 gold equivalent ounces after full processing restarted, with agitation leaching and flotation at design capacity. Development of the new Gilar underground mine was progressing, with first development ore expected in early 2025.

What is there to see in Gadabay District? The district offers mountain forests, mineral springs at Narzan, Mor-Mor and Chaldash, and monuments including Koroglu Castle, Beyukgala fortress at Soyudlu, the Galakend-galasi towers, Giz-galasi and a nineteenth-century arched bridge. More than twenty arches survive from the Siemens-era Gedabey–Galakent railway route.

What this profile does not claim

• It does not settle the origin of the name Gedabey; three versions are recorded and none is chosen.
• It does not give an exact length for the Gedabey–Galakent railway, since sources disagree between 28 km, over 30 km and “some twenty miles”.
• It does not give a town-only population for Gedabey; the figures quoted are district figures.
• It does not detail uranium mining; uranium is listed among the district’s resources but no production evidence was found in the sources read.
• It does not assert that the Siemens-era buildings survive unchanged; most have been privatised or repurposed, and the profile reports their present uses where the sources state them.