Heydar Aliyev Center

About Heydar Aliyev Center

Performing arts venue

The Heydar Aliyev Center is one of the world's most famous cultural centres and the icon of modern Baku, a building complex of about 57,500 square metres designed by the Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid and noted for its flowing, curved architecture that avoids sharp angles, so that the building seems to rise from the ground like a white wave. Zaha Hadid won the London Design Museum's Design of the Year award for it in 2014. It is named after Heydar Aliyev (1923–2003), first secretary of Soviet Azerbaijan from 1969 to 1982 and president of the Republic of Azerbaijan from 1993 to 2003. According to Wikivoyage, the building represents a fluid form that emerges from the folding of the landscape's natural topography and the wrapping of the centre's individual functions; all its functions and entrances are folds in a single continuous surface that connects the cultural spaces while giving each element its own identity and privacy, and as the skin folds inside it erodes away to become part of the interior landscape. The centre houses a conference hall (auditorium), a gallery hall and a museum. It hosts international art exhibitions and permanent displays on the history of Azerbaijan and the life of Heydar Aliyev, is surrounded by a large park with colourful sculptures, and is one of the most photographed places in Baku.

Where:

Baku, Azerbaijan