The Heydar Aliyev Centre, signed by Iraq architect Zaha Hadid, houses the brand-new Heydar Aliyev Museum, in memory of the former leader of the Communist
Party of Azerbaijan during the Soviet era, and member of the Politburo of the USSR | Pictures: Oriol López, EUROM
does have texts in Russian and English. Although leader who led the country to its maximum growth
the story does not show nostalgia for communism, thanks to an economy sustained by trading the oil
it does not express an open criticism towards extracted from the Caspian Sea. Aliyev, declared
Moscow, and the bitterest discourse is reserved for president in 1993, did not quit the presidency until
explanations regarding territorial clashes with its his death in 2003; he was succeeded by his son Ilham
Armenian neighbours throughout the 20th century. Aliyev in an election that did not meet the necessary
The museum uses (to the surprise of many foreign transparency according to some international
visitors, I assume) the term “genocide” to refer to observers, although all this is not mentioned in the
the thousands of Azeri deaths at the hands of the exhibition.
Armenian Soviets between 1918 and 1920 when they
We end this trip through the history museums’
occupied Baku. A “genocide” that, according to of the South Caucasus in Yerevan, where the
this exhibition account, would be repeated in 1992 Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial is
with more deaths among the civilian population of located. Nestled on the hill of Tsitsernakaberd,
Nagorno-Karabakh, a still disputed territory between the complex is a mixture of old and new; it has a
Armenia and Azerbaijan. memorial space opened in 1967 amid the Soviet
Also in Baku, but at the opposite end in terms of
era, and a museum that was launched in 1995 and
museum facilities, we find the Heydar Aliyev Centre, renovated in 2015, coinciding with the centenary of
a true jewel of contemporary architecture signed by the genocide. The permanent exhibition begins with
Iraq Zaha Hadid. Part of this huge complex houses a legalistic definition of the concept “genocide”, and
the brand-new Heydar Aliyev Museum, in memory goes on to explain the antecedents, development
of the former leader of the Communist Party of and consequences of the crimes committed at the
Azerbaijan during the Soviet era, and member of the beginning of the 20th century against the Armenians
Politburo of the USSR who, above all, is remembered of the Ottoman Empire by the Young Turks regime. A
as the national leader of the post-Soviet Azerbaijan, modern museography, sometimes perhaps too dark,
judging by the numerous statues and photographs containing undoubtedly crude images of the killing
of him that are all over the country. The permanent of children and adults, leads the visitor to a state
exhibition, distributed over three floors, shows of mourning that may deeply affect his/her spirits.
Aliyev’s life with all kinds of audiovisual resources Outside, separated by a wide asphalted promenade,
of the latest generation and follows a completely we find the memorial designed in the 1960s, created
personalistic discourse. Aliyev is depicted as the upon the request of Armenian historians and leaders
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Observing Memories
ISSUE 2