Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre

Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre, Baku

Zaha Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev Centre won the London Design Museum’s Design of the Year award in 2014, an unusual choice because the award typically goes to consumer products and services rather than buildings. The museum’s argument was that the building represented a genuine expansion of what architecture could achieve, not just formally, but in terms of the structural engineering required to make Hadid’s fluid, uncompromising curves physically possible. The building has no visible joins, no straight lines, and no conventional structural logic. The scaffolding-less white continuous surface, curved simultaneously in multiple directions, required computer modelling that would have been impossible a decade earlier.

The building is hard to miss and impossible to mistake for anything else. Completed in 2012, it is a flowing structure of white curves and undulations, no sharp edges, no straight lines, no visible joints. It looks like something between a wave and a cloud. The modelling work required to make it structurally coherent was significant, and the building is widely discussed in architecture circles as one of Hadid’s defining works. It won the Design of the Year award from the London Design Museum in 2014.

It sits on a prominent avenue in Baku with its own plaza and is worth visiting even if you’re not going inside.

Inside the Centre

The building contains a concert hall (around 1,000 seats), museum and exhibition spaces, and a conference centre. The interior continues the exterior’s curvilinear language, flowing ramps and continuous surfaces without obvious transitions between floor and wall and ceiling. It’s a striking space.

The exhibitions rotate, but the permanent collections include Azerbaijani miniature paintings, folk crafts, and historical artefacts. Photography and multimedia exhibits on Azerbaijani history are also present. Entry to the museum is around AZN 3-5 (about €1.50-3) depending on exhibition; the guided tours cost more.

Check the schedule for concerts. The hall is used for classical music, jazz, and local performances, and the programme is worth looking at if you’re staying in Baku for several days.

The Old City (İçəri Şəhər)

The contrast between the Aliyev Centre and Baku’s medieval Old City about 3km away is striking. The Icherisheher (walled city) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the 12th-century Maiden Tower, the 15th-century Palace of the Shirvanshahs, caravanserais, and old mosques. Entry to the Old City itself is free; the major monuments charge small entrance fees.

The Flame Towers, three glass skyscrapers shaped like flames and covered in LED panels, loom over the Old City from the north. They’re lit in rolling patterns at night and visible from much of Baku.

Where to Eat

Azerbaijani cuisine is underrated by Western visitors. Plov (saffron rice with lamb, dried fruits, and chestnuts, cooked in a cast iron kazan) is the centrepiece dish and done well at Chinar restaurant near the boulevard. Dolma (vine leaves stuffed with meat and rice) and various lamb dishes dominate menus. Şorgogal (flaky pastry with saffron) is a common street food worth trying.

Nakhchivan restaurant near the Old City is considered one of the better places for traditional Azerbaijani cooking at reasonable prices. AZN 30-40 per person is typical for a full meal with drinks.

Where to Stay

The Four Seasons and JW Marriott Absheron are the main luxury options near the seafront. For mid-range, Boulevard Hotel on Neftchilar Avenue has good positioning for the city centre and the Old City. The waterfront Baku Boulevard itself (a pedestrianised seafront promenade) is one of the more pleasant areas to be based.

Getting Around

Baku has a clean and efficient metro system. The Koroghlu station is closest to the Aliyev Centre. Taxis are cheap, agree on the price before getting in, or use the Uber-equivalent apps (Bolt operates here).

The currency is the Azerbaijani Manat (AZN). 1 AZN is roughly €0.55.