  In this paper we show that the Boltzmann weights of the three-dimensional
Baxter-Bazhanov model give representations of the braid group, if some suitable
spectral limits are taken. In the trigonometric case we classify all possible
spectral limits which produce braid group representations. Furthermore we prove
that for some of them we get cyclotomic invariants of links and for others we
obtain tangle invariants generalizing the cyclotomic ones.
