News

On March 9, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Heydar Aliyev in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani-French University, the French Embassy in Azerbaijan, and the Institut Français d'Azerbaïdjan have collaborated to organize a conference at UFAZ entitled "Baku Emblematic Projects of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s: International and National in Azerbaijani Soviet Modernism."

During the event, Vazeh Askarov, UFAZ Executive director, extended a warm welcome to the guests and highlighted Heydar Aliyev's keen interest in the architecture of Baku during his leadership in the Soviet era.

The keynote speaker at the conference was Paul Wolkenstein, an accomplished architect and scholar, who completed his studies at the Moscow Architectural Institute in 2015, the École Nationale Supérieure d'ArchitectureVal de Seine in Paris in 2018, and holds a master's degree in Russian history and civilization from the National Institute of Oriental Languages in Paris (INALCO). His research is focused on socialist architecture in Transcaucasia and Central Asia between 1960 and 1980.

During his presentation, Wolkenstein shared the stories behind many of the emblematic buildings in Baku from 1960 to 1980. The audience was also given the opportunity to ask him questions at the end of the conference.