Page 34 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(1) (2025)

the photos that appeared in the archives of Rus- was limited to an array of three rows of tents,
sian and Azerbaijan media like Ekspert Novostey spaced two metres apart, where people could sit
(Експерт Новостей), and online public archives and speak from a megaphone. Indeed, the idea
of TASS and Radio-Free Europe. The one at the was to visually organise a temporary settlement,
entrance of the neighbouring buildings reads, free in spirit and form, in contrast with the aus-
‘Long Live Free Azerbaijan Without USSR and tere geometry of the large parliament building.
Comparty of SU!’ Many photos from within the The latter was guarded by a row of soldiers, stand-
protest represent the gathering as a widespread ing one next to the other to form a rectangular
assembly. Using photos sourced from local press buffer area at the entrance of the building. This
outlets, we have reconstructed the original ur- geometrical arrangement is captured in several
ban space, which has changed due to the presence shots. In essence, the Kyiv demonstrations cre-
of a temporary F1 racing grandstand. This struc- ated a close confrontation between the state and
34 ture not only altered the landscape but also ob- the people, with strong symbolic gestures. All the
structed the protests that occurred in Baku in communist symbols on the buildings are now
2020. Back in 19–20 January 1990, cars and bus- removed, and the building still stands despite
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 13 (2025), številka 1 / volume 13 (2025), number 1
es were parked on the side and in front of the par- the ongoing Russian offensive against Ukraine.
liament, while the crowd formed a corridor con- Minsk poses the case of a concave parliament de-
necting the southwest corner of the protest area sign that embraces an open space, allowing the
with the central area next to the building, from crowd to get a central position with the scenogra-
where speeches were delivered. The façade was phy of the building in the background (Figure 9).
free from obstacles, and many photographers The visual material gathered via Soviet Newspa-
were able to capture the full extension of the per Archives of Izvectia (Известия), Mockovck-
gathering, even from a bird’s eye point of view. ie Novocti (Московские Новости), and online
Considering the design of the building with dis- platforms shows that the podium of the Lenin
tinct tiers set back from the one below, protest- statue became the main stage. The first page of
ers were able to reach many different levels and Mockovckie Novocti (Московские Новости)
obtain an elevated position on the square. For published a photo of climbing workers rising in
this reason, among the five cases, the Black Janu- the foreground, in symbolic confrontation with
ary protest is the most three-dimensional expres- the statue in the background. Another stage
sion of dissent. While the public space in Baku was mounted on the same line of sight, more de-
was transversal to the entrance, in Kyiv it was tached from the building, so that it could be seen
much more extended in the parallel direction to from all directions. The bulk of the crowd formed
the building’s axis (Figure 8). Another difference a P-shaped footprint, concentrating in the build-
is the presence of an elongated park called Den- ing’s courtyard and Lenin Square (today’s Inde-
izkenarı Milli Park (Sea-side national park), with pendence Square). This public space was particu-
high vegetation, where people could walk but larly favourable to the protest because it had no
not gather. The Kyiv case, reconstructed through obstacles (i.e. river, vegetation), so the assembly
photos in Soviet newspaper archives like Izvec- gained maximum visibility. Finally, the more re-
tia (Известия), Ukrınform (Укрынформ), and cent case of Yerevan is much more documented
further supplementary online platforms, is char- due to the multiple sources available (newspaper,
acterised by limited visibility. The original form social media, official reports). The morphology of
of protest for the Revolution on Granite con- the protest is very different from the previous one
templated the use of tents, which became iconic because the premises of the parliament building
symbols of resistance. The protest in the square were heavily fenced and guarded (Figure 10). The
of Verkhovna Rada, as opposed to October Rev- crowd staged a parade-like demonstration that
olution Square (today’s Independence Square), took the shape of the large boulevard on which