Comtourist spend a couple of days in Baku at the beginning of our 2011 Caucasus tour. The city will stand in the spot lights during the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest promoting itself as a modern prosperous city. Not much attention shall be given to the communist past of the Azeri capital, despite the importance of this period for the history of the country. We looked around in Baku in search for whatever monuments, buildings or other reminders of the Soviet period we could find.
We were happy to find out that a lot of buildings from the Soviet period still stand today. The former Palace of Soviets is still Baku�s most famous landmark and will probably clinch a spot in the top 10 of communist architecture. The giant Narimanov Statue is another great sight that remembers of the Soviet period. Check out the photos we made of Soviet Baku, combined with some historic photos from buildings and monuments that are now gone, found in old books and postcards.
The Government House of Baku is a prime example of successful Soviet architecture that incorporates local culture
The Baku Soviet Palace now called House of Government was constructed between 1936 and 1952 in baroque style
The Government House in Baku here seen at night from former Lenin Square where a Lenin statue stood until 1990
Uzeyir Hajibeyov Street behind the House of Government is an example of the fusion between Soviet and local architecture
The beautiful Baku seaside promenade along the Caspian Sea that the Azeri call the Boulevard is a great place for a walk
Pearl Cafe with its concrete flower shaped roof on the boulevard of Baku is a masterpiece of Soviet architecture
Pearl Cafe with its concrete flower shaped roof on the boulevard of Baku is a masterpiece of Soviet architecture
The building of the Baku branch of the Central V.I.Lenin Museum from 1960, now turned into a carpet museum
The former Lenin Museum seen from the Baku boulevard peer where many teenagers hang out in the evening
Soviet hammer and sickle carved in marble above the door of the former Lenin museum in the capital of Azerbaijan
28 May Metro Station build in 1967 and then named 28 April after the founding of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1920
The Soviet era Central Railways Station with the 28 May Metro Station and Jafar Jabbarly monument in the foreground
The Shahriyar Cultural Club building with the Soviet communist signs now replaced by Azerbaijan national signs
Construction of the Baku TV Tower started in 1979 order by the Ministry of Communications of the USSR
The Azerbaijan State Academic Drama Theatre where many famous Soviet actors have performed in the past
Statue dedicated to Azerbaijani revolutionary Nariman Narimanov who headed the Soviet government of Azerbaijan in 1920
The Narimanov Statue was erected by Heydar Aliyev in 1970, then the Secretary of the Azerbaijan SSR Central Committee
The statue of Narimanov is of the only remaining Soviet monuments that was not brought down after Azeri independence
Martyrs' Lane bust of Soviet general Azi Aslanov who lead tank units during many important battles of World War II
Bust of the famous Azerbaijani and Soviet poet Samad Vurgun, first People�s Artist of the Azerbaijan SSR
Soviet era street frescos with Cosmonauts and other space themed objects seen somewhere in Baku
Soviet Fresco on a house in Baku depicting children from all nations, cosmonauts and peace doves
The stairs leading to the plateau where a giant Kirov statue stood from 1939 to 1992 have now fallen in despair
The Nizami Museum of Azerbaijan Literature in the centre of Baku was build in 1939 in traditional eastern style
Every important Soviet city had a Central Department Store called TSUM, GUM, and in the case of Baku MUM
Baku locals enjoying their tea in the classic Soviet Pearl cafe on the Boulevard, photo from the early 1980s
The Baku Waterfront with the Sea Side Promenade during the early 1980s, hotel Azerbaijan is under construction
A giant Kirov Statue was overlooking the city of Baku from 1939 to 1992 when it was removed after the end of the USSR
Postcard predicting the Soviet era National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan building in the early 1990s
Hotel Absheron, a Luxurious Baku hotel during the communist era, is now replaced by a thirteen in a dozen Marriot Hotel
The House of Scientists is another building from the Stalinist period where socialist realism is mixed with local styles
The Maiden tower is Baku's most famous historical building, here seen on a postcard during the early 1980s
The monument commemorating the 26 Baku Commissars killed in 1918 after an attempted coup was demolished in 2009
Postcard with residential buildings in the Oktyabrsky District of Baku constructed during the early 1980's
Nzami Street during the early 1990s when Lada's still dominated the street scenes in Baku and other former Soviet cities
Old Baku Railway Station constructed in oriental style in 1920 on a 1985 postcard, a red Lada in front of the station
Postcard with the Baku Central Railways Station during the early 1990s, a typical 1970s Soviet public building
The Baku Sports and Concert complex during Soviet times that may become the location of the 2012 Eurovision contest
The Baku State Circus was famous in the USSR, the circus building with 2000 seats was constructed in 1967
Neftyaniki Avenue with the Baku funicular and the Bahram-Gur Fountain in the background on a 1980s postcard
Soviet era residential buildings at Uzeir Gadjibecov Street in Baku on a postcard from the early 1990s
The Azerbaijan State Theatre of Young Spectators here depicted on a postcard was constructed in 1927
Hotel Azerbaijan, a Luxurious Baku hotel during the communist era, is now replaced by a thirteen in a dozen Hilton Hotel
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