Page 29 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(1) (2025)

Baku and the Protests Against Black January –
January 1990
The projects for the town planning of Baku,
in a land rich in oil deposits, were drafted be-
tween the 1920s and 1930s (Crawford 2022).
During this period, the Soviet Union organ-
ised architectural competitions to shape the ur-
ban scene of Baku like a Soviet city. The former
Soviet Palace – now called Government House
– and the Lenin Square in front of it (Figure 2)
were one of the main projects commissioned in
Baku (Darieva 2015). In 1934, the Soviet authori-
ties announced a competition for the Soviet Pal- 29
ace, which would serve as a monumental symbol
of Soviet power with a square to stage ceremo-
nial mass demonstrations as ‘an integral part of
the Soviet life’ (Presidential Library n.d.). The
former Soviet Palace, designed by Lev Rudnev Figure 2: The former Soviet Palace, now called Govern-
– a leading architect of Stalinist Architecture, ment House, and the Lenin Square, axonometric view,
Vladimir Munts and K. Tkachenko, is one of authors.
the most powerful examples of the socialist-real- Several visuals of the crowds published in news-
ist buildings realised in Soviet Azerbaijan. It has papers and magazines became symbolic of na-
eclectic features, controlled and influenced by tion-building processes in the country. After in-
the rules of Stalinist architecture drafted from dependence, the Azerbaijan Government took
the central authorities (Khmel-Nitskii 2014). several steps to decommunise the urban scene The Critical Position of Soviet Parliament Buildings Today
The building, designed with baroque and ver- of the city, changed the name of Lenin Square
nacular elements, has a symbolic role in the city’s to Azadlıq Square (Liberation Square), removed
centre with its monumental scale and local con- the Lenin statue and raised the National Flag
struction materials, being a combination of na- in front of the building, spent nearly forty mil-
tional and Soviet heritage. It is located in the lion dollars to renovate the former Soviet Palace
centre of the city’s coastal line. The Lenin stat- (Azerbaijan Business Center 2010) – renaming
ue and the square in front of the building were it Government House, and moved the Parlia-
designed for mass demonstrations, military pa- ment building to a new place, leaving Govern-
rades, and other events, such as commemora- ment House to host some state ministry offices.
tions of the October Revolution. Today, the square hosts the grandstand of the F1
The increased tensions between Azerbaijani Azerbaijan Grand Prix and its pit lane. All these
and Armenian residents in the Nagorno-Kara- attempts transformed the powerful language of
bakh region led to protests in Lenin Square, Stalinist architecture into one of the most vital
with criticisms directed towards the Soviet Un- symbols for the roots of Azerbaijan’s national
ion (Mehmood-Ul-Hassan Khan 2014). The heritage, maintaining the tragic collective mem-
Black January protests on 19–20 January 1990, ory of Black January and the rampant crowds.
and the military aggression by Moscow to si-
lence Azerbaijani liberationists and enforce con-
trol, were the catalysts for Azerbaijani national-
ist and anti-Soviet sentiment (Abilov and Isayev
2016). This eventually led to their liberation.