The Government House of Azerbaijan

Government House 

Government House - an administrative building located in the center of Baku. The architects of the building are Lev Rudnev and Vladimir Munts. The construction of the palace began in 1924, during the newly established ASSR, and the complex construction work was completed in 1952.

Government House - an administrative building located in the center of Baku. The architects of the building are Lev Rudnev and Vladimir Munts. The construction of the palace began in 1924, during the newly established ASSR, and the complex construction work was completed in 1952.

History of the building.

Since there was no suitable building for government employees in Azerbaijan during the Soviet era, there was a need to build such a building. The architects working on the project were tasked with building a building that reflected the power and bright future of the great socialist state.

According to architect Nariman Aliyev, Moscow decided to build the current Government House in the second half of the 1920s. In 1924, the construction of a building for members of the government began in Baku. The process lasted until the early 1930s, and in 1932 a competition was announced. After two years of discussions, the winners of the competition were determined in 1934. Well-known Azerbaijani architects Mikayil Huseynov and Sadig Dadashov also took part in the competition. Their works are among the most worthy to this day. However, for obvious reasons, the project was not approved. Experts note that their project was more sophisticated and grand. The jury from Moscow awarded the first place to Lev Rudnev.

Government House - an administrative building located in the center of Baku. The architects of the building are Lev Rudnev and Vladimir Munts. The construction of the palace began in 1924, during the newly established ASSR, and the complex construction work was completed in 1952.

Beautiful, classic style building main 

Once the design of the building is approved, it is necessary to choose a special place for its construction. Given that the city is developing from the western zone to the east, it is advisable to build such a building in the center. For this purpose, more than 6 hectares of land are selected in the center. It should be noted that the square in front of the building, now called "Freedom", is the largest in the entire territory of the former USSR. The second such square is in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. However, the area of ​​this square is slightly smaller than Freedom Square. The area of ​​the square is about 6 hectares.

Once the area where the building will be built is determined, the decision to build a 13-storey Soviet building is approved. However, in this case, the approved project has shortcomings. Thus, according to the decision of the state in 1931, the architectural works built in Azerbaijan should reflect the national character. However, the project prepared by the Russian architect did not have such features. So they decided to make small changes to the original shape of the building.

The protrusions we see in the building now - the arches on the roofs facing the sea - are the result of that change. The arches did not exist in advance. The project was changed due to the decision on the need for national ornaments of the country. If we look closely, we can see that the 13-storey building has only a 3-storey arch. Although this is not a terrible mistake, it is architecturally illiterate. One of the consequences of this illiteracy is the lack of access to any of the balconies around the arches, any floor or room of the building. According to Aliyev, it can be concluded that these balconies were built simply for appearance - to create a national character.

Although construction of the building began in 1934, the outbreak of World War II put an end to the work in this area. After the end of the Second World War with the victory of the USSR in 1945, the construction of the unfinished building was resumed. According to Aliyev, the power of German soldiers captured as workers was used in the construction of the building. The participation of Nazi soldiers in the construction of the building is an undeniable fact of history.

After a long process, the construction of this building was finally completed in 1952. The last 3 floors of the building, which was originally planned to consist of 13 floors, have been postponed.

It is unknown why they refused to build these three floors. According to architect Nariman Aliyev, one of the initial assumptions is that the allocated funds are not enough. The 3rd floor of the building is being postponed, and national arches, which were later added to the project, are being built at its expense.

"Palace" through the eyes of a professional architect main edit]
Currently, the historical architectural monument erected on Freedom Square consists of 10 floors. The area of ​​the building is about two hectares. Baku, the city of winds, has once again shown this ancient feature by influencing the Government House. Thus, the protrusions at the end of the building - most of the pitchers - collapsed, unable to withstand the effects of wind and time. According to N.Aliyev, now the restoration of those pitchers has become a problem.

The Government House, which is now considered an architectural monument, has been renovated several times since its completion. According to architect Nariman Aliyev, each main building is given 50 years of life. And in 50 years, according to its purpose, reconstruction work is underway. The Government House has also been repaired and minor changes have been made. In general, no reconstruction work has been carried out. At the same time, N.Aliyev said that the building could not be repaired to change the appearance of the building. There is no other building in the world that resembles this building, which is a historical and architectural monument of Azerbaijan