NEWS

Museums around the world hold some of the most valuable and breathtaking artifacts in existence. They beckon people to explore new cultures through fascinating world of art.

With its rich art history and cultural heritages, Azerbaijan is home to multiple museums that are worth visiting.

More art lovers are flocking to the country`s museums. Number of museum visitors have increased in the country in recent years.

As of the beginning of 2020, the number of museum visitors amounted to 3 million 343 thousand people which is much bigger compared to previous years.

There are 239 museums in Azerbaijan, 76 of which are historical, 42 are memorial, 68 are local history, 41 are art museums, 12 are other museums.

Founded in 1967, the National Carpet Museum holds more than 14,000 exhibits of the finest Azerbaijani carpets.

The museum, initiated by Latif Karimov, an outstanding scientist and carpet weaver is beautiful inside and out. The new building of the Carpet Museum, designed in the form of a rolled carpet, opened in the Baku Seaside Park in 2014 and all carpets were transferred to this museum.

There are seven major carpet weaving schools distinguished by patterns, composition, color palette and techniques in Azerbaijan: Guba School, Baku or Absheron School, Shirvan School, Ganja School, Gazakh School, Karabakh School, Tabriz School.Guba carpet ornaments contain stylized vegetative.

In 2019, Azerbaijani carpet-making art was proclaimed a Masterpiece of Intangible Heritage by UNESCO.

Azerbaijan National Art Museum  holds multiple artistic exhibits waiting to be explored. Over 3,000 items in 60 rooms are on permanent display at the museum. Moreover, about 12,000 items are kept in storage.

Art works of Italian, French, German and Polish painters are displayed at the museum.

The second edifice built in 1885 houses Eastern art, represented particularly by Persian, Turkish, Chinese and Japanese art.

The works of Azerbaijani artists Mir Mohsun Navvab, Bahruz Kangarli, Tahir Salahov, Azim Azimzade, Salam Salamzade, Vidadi Narimanbeyov, Mikail Abdullayev, Togrul Narimanbeyov and sculptor Omar Eldarov are also kept in the museum halls.

Azerbaijan is also home to major contemporary art museums.

With stunning and immersive art works, Azerbaijan Modern Art Museum never cease to amaze its visitors.

Initiated by First-Vice President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva, the museum has been successfully operating since March 20, 2009.

The main feature of the museum is that it does not have fixed subject areas. The museum has open passages and walls that meet at different angles, united by unique conspicuous metallic structures. The chief designer of the museum is the artist Altay Sadikh-zadeh; the architect of the building is Jean Nouvel.

The National Modern Art Museum displays nearly 1,000 works of eminent contemporary artists and sculptors, well-known not only in Azerbaijan but also abroad.

The museum stores extraordinary paintings of such artists as Rasim Babayev, Fazil Najafov, Mammad Mustafayev, Fuad Salayev, Altay Sadikh-zadeh and others. 

Moreover, the museum’s exposition treasures the works of the great European masters - the founders of the avant-garde style Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall. The classic of Western realism is represented by several paintings from a private collection.

YARAT Contemporary Arts Space invites its little guests to take part in a virtual tour.

Every Saturday and Sunday, little art lovers have a chance to view YARAT's extensive collection of exhibits.

The virtual tour will be led by Mina Abbasova. More details are provided on Facebook.

YARAT is a nonprofit organization dedicated to nurturing an understanding of contemporary art in Azerbaijan and to creating a platform for Azerbaijani art, both nationally and internationally.

Based in Baku, YARAT was founded by Aida Mahmudova in 2011.

The organization realizes its mission through an on-going program of exhibitions, education events and festivals.

YARAT facilitates exchange between local and international artistic networks including foundations, galleries and museums.

A documentary "The First Success of the Nobel brothers" will be screened in Germany.

The film was included in the competition program of the 5th Golden Tree International Documentary Festival, which takes place in Frankfurt. 

Directed by Jalaladdin Gasimov, the film tells about Nobel brothers who gained most of their revenues when they were in Baku. They came to Baku to find walnut trees, but instead they saw Baku oil and established "The Nobel brothers" company. 

The Nobel Brothers took an active roll in Azerbaijan's oil industry that started developing apace in the second half of the 19th century. 

After detecting oil on Absheron peninsula, Robert Nobel invested his capital in the oil sector and set up drilling operations. He also bought a small kerosene factory and began refining oil.

The Nobel Brothers company officially began operating in 1879. Set up by Robert, Ludwig and Alfred Nobel, the company became the most authoritative and valuable oil company worldwide.

By the early 20th century, the Nobel Brothers Company had become the dominant oil company in Azerbaijan.

The company had capital equal to 30 million rubles and more than 13 plants (including 6 oil processing plants) from the period of 1914 to 1917. Their total oil production was 76 million pounds in 1916.

The Nobel Brothers were also strong humanitarians, donating funds to schools and ran a hospital.

Ludvig Nobel worked actively to improve working conditions in his factories. In 1885 he started a cooperative bank for the workers. Dining rooms, billiard rooms, libraries and conference rooms were also built for workers. Moreover, large park, created by brothers still exists in the "Black City".

Golden Tree International Documentary Festival aims to encourage greater global attention on documentary film and to promote quality films focusing on diverse civilizations and cultures from across the world. 

The festival has become an important bridge for cultural content linking eastern and western documentary markets and is establishing itself as a valuable resource for distribution within China and development of content between China and the world. 

The final night of the 5th Golden Tree International Documentary Festival is scheduled for August 25.

Submission of films for the 11th Baku International Short Film Festival (BISFF) has already started. 

Initiated by the Center for Young Cinematographers "CINEMA", the festival aims at reviewing and discussing films and selecting the best ones and reach a wide audience.

The project provides a great opportunity for local film directors to strengthen contacts with their foreign colleagues.

Supported by the Azerbaijan Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Baku International Short Film Festival 2020 is scheduled for November 13-17.

Nizami Cinema Center, The Guild of Producers, “02 MEDIA” and OZ FILM company are among the supporters of the event. 

This year, the festival remains committed to the principle of "35 years, 35 minutes." Directors under the age of 35 must submit the film that should not exceed 35 minutes to the festival by September 1.

There are international, local and Cinemobil competition sections at the festival. Foreign and local directors can participate in the international competition with fiction, documentary and animated films.

The festival's programs for local directors are rich as well. Along with fiction, documentary and animation, social videos one can also join to the local competition.

The Cinemobil competition is also intended for local film directors. Unlike previous years, this year participants can submit a film to the competition which do not exceed 5 minutes.Each author can submit his film on the festival website and Filmfreeway. 

The films are reviewed by the Selection Committee and included in the competition program.

The official program of the festival will be announced on October 20.

Films competing for the main prize-Golden Pomegranate, will be selected by a jury consisting of local and foreign  experts.

This year, the festival is willing to provide technical and post-production support for the next film project to the winners of the local competition for "Best Short Film" and "Best Documentary Short Film". The winner of the "Best Animated Short Film" nomination will be supported only  by post-production works of the next film project.

Founded in 2004, the Baku International Short Film Festival is the longest-running festival in Azerbaijan. The festival showcases films that have won awards and success at Cannes, Venice, Berlin Film Festivals and Oscar award.

Each year, the best out of more than 1,500 films sent from around the world are selected and included in the festival's program. 

In addition, for five days at this festival the audience will have a chance to watch new films of local directors, who try to show the events in a different way and in interesting styles.

The Baku ISFF reflects the growing interest in short films, which are considered to be the foundations of cinema in our country, also encourage and support young cinematographers.

At this festival, which has been held in the fall for eleven years, we are proud to show colorful films that combine cultural, political, social events and different characters in the world and in our country.

Azerbaijani writer Kamran Nazirli has been nominated for London Literature Award in the category Best Writer in 2015-2019.

Alexander Grichenko, chairman of the Moscow-based International Writers' Union, and Oleg Kolesnikov, chairman of the Union of Fiction and Cinematographers, signed the certificate, Azertag reported.

According to the accepted standards, all nominees for this award also receive the title of "Best Writer of the Year".  Azerbaijani writer has been also accepted as a full member of the International Writers' Organization.

It should be noted that the organization has 293 full members, including writers from different countries.

Founded in 1954, the International Union of Writers, Poets, Playwrights and Journalists is one of the world's largest professional writers' organizations. Until 2010, the organization was headquartered in Paris. Today, its main office is in Moscow. The organization unites writers' unions from 40 countries and protects the social and professional rights of writers and journalists. The president of this international organization is the American writer Michael Swanwick.

Kamran Nazirli is a member of the Writers' Unions of Azerbaijan and Belarus. He is the author of short stories, novels and various publicist books. "The Man in a Coma," "The Devil's Light," "The Fourth Seal," "Between Natives," "The White House, "Fathers Don't Tell Tales," Society is a Mirror of Politics," are among his famous works.

He was also awarded a special prize by the US Embassy for his translation of Herman Melville's novel "Moby-Dick" into Azerbaijani.

The author's works on Karabakh - "Old Child", "Let me die", "Second breath", "Dark thieves", "War", "White shadow", "Memories of a dead child" and "Guardians of Lydia Ivanovna" - are included in the anthology, to be published next year in Moscow. These works will be translated into Russian, English and French.

Zhara Music Festival in Turkey has been postponed until next year. The festival was supposed to take place on August 27-28. 

"We did our best to make the summer leave only the brightest and most musical emotions. However, circumstances had been different. Thus, we are forced to postpone "ZHARA Fest. Bodrum".  We want you to feel calm and relaxed at the festival, and spend time enjoying music hits of the most popular artists, "the message says.

Earlier, Zhara Music Festival in Baku was also postponed amid coronavirus pandemic. The list of celebrities will remain the same. All tickets purchased this year will be valid next year! No additional fees will be required, even if the price increases in 2021.The festival will take place from July 28 to 1 August, 2021.

In addition, in 2021, all planned facilities will be completed on the territory of Sea Breeze: apartments, villas, a hotel, swimming pools and recreation areas so that you can fully enjoy the festival.

Zhara Music Festival is co-organized by People's Artist of Azerbaijan Emin Agalarov, Honored Artist of Russia Grigory Leps, founder of Russkoye Radio and Zolotoy Grammofon award Sergei Kozhevnikov.

More than 200 singers and bands like Chingiz Mustafayev, Monatik, Philipp Kirkorov, A’Studio, Vera Brezhneva, Bosson, Rita Dakota, Dmitry Matatov, Glyuk’oza, Nikolay Baskov, Kristina Orbakaite, Burito, Aleksandr Panayotov, Ani Lorak and others took part in the last year’s festival.

Medeniyyet TV has premiered a film about Honored Cultural Worker, artist photographer Parviz Guliyev.

The documentary "An indelible mark on the art of cinema" highlights Parviz Guliyev's rich life path.

The cast includes well-known directors, People's Artists Ogtay Mirgasimov and Ramiz Hasanoglu, film expert, Honored Art Worker Aydin Kazimzadeh who shared their memories about Parviz Guliyev.

The film also features another public figures who contributed to Azerbaijani cinema art. The author of the project is Honored Journalist Salar Aslanov, film director Sanan Sultanov.

Photographer artist Parviz started his career, working  as a laboratory assistant at the Azerbaijanfilm film studio (1961). He continued his work as a photographer. In 1967, he began to lead a photo workshop.

For many years, his photo works had been displayed during the Days of Azerbaijani Culture in the former USSR. He was an artist photographer for more than 50 feature, documentary and popular science films.

Azerbaijan State Art Gallery has laughed a new art project aimed at further expansion of cooperation with artists living in the regions.

Co-organized in partnership with the Azerbaijan Ministry of Culture and the Azerbaijan State Art Gallery, the project allows local artists to strengthen ties with various cultural institutions and improve art in various parts of Azerbaijan.

The project helps local artists to make their art more recognizable through a joint work.

All artists who are eager to join the project should provide information about themselves, their contacts. More details are provided on Facebook.

Founded in 1975, Azerbaijan State Art Gallery displays more than 14,000 paintings, graphics, sculptures, decorative and applied arts and contemporary art examples. 

The main activities of the gallery include preservation and restoration of Azerbaijan's cultural heritage, researches on the current situation and prospects of the fine arts and decorative-applied arts and much more. 

The majority of exhibitions in Azerbaijan and abroad are mainly composed of the works stored in the gallery. 

The State Art Gallery regularly successfully holds various art projects, lectures and other events.

With his rich legacy, Nizami Ganjavi influenced the development of poetry in many other countries of Western and Central Asia.

One of the most prominent figures of medieval Azerbaijani philosophical poetry takes a special place in the country's literature. His five poems, collectively known as the Khamsa (Quintet), are considered the treasury of Azerbaijani poetry.

For many years, the poet's legacy has been actively promoted by the center named after him.

Nizami Ganjavi International Center is a cultural, non-profit, non-political organization that includes a number of highly respected and recognized international figures.

The Center was founded in 2012 under the decree of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.

In his interview with Azernews, Secretary General of Nizami Ganjavi International Center Rovshan Muradov provided insight into the Center's activities, its mission and future goals.

"The Nizami Ganjavi International Center was founded in 2012 under the decree of President Ilham  Aliyev. There was a celebration timed to the anniversary of Nizami Ganjavi. Together with the co-chairs of the Center, former president of Latvia Vaira Vike-Freiberga, director Library of Alexandria Ismail Serageldin and former president Kyrgyzstan Roza Otunbayeva we joined celebrations of Nizami's anniversary in Ganja. Furthermore, we held first discussions on the revival of Nizami's legacy with the Mayor Office. As you know, Nizami Ganjavi's legacy is widely spread from East to West. In many countries he is known as a Shakespeare of the East. With the support of the Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev we established an institution to salute and honor the legacy of Nizami Ganjavi as well as to promote tolerance, dialogue, understanding and learning," said Muradov.

Speaking about the Center's activities, Rovshan Muradov stressed that the institution is working in two areas, one of which is dedicated to major international events like the Global Baku Forum, which was hosted under the auspices of President Ilham Aliyev last March.

"It is a massive event which is growing year by year. We also have regional level meetings. These meetings are mainly focused on discussing world crises like coronavirus pandemic, humanitarian and refugee crises and so on. Not so long ago Nizami Ganjavi Center addressed such issues as Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Sustainable Development Goals, Women's rights and called for support of the people of Yemen. It turned out to be a global platform which gives stage for the word-leaders. The Center touches upon the most challenging issues of humanity. The center's second field is linked with a research of Nizamin Ganjavi legacy.  For instance, co-chair of Nizami Ganjavi International Center, Dr. Ismail Serageldim prepared special publications on the poet's legacy. The Center is also engaged in the research of Nizami's works stored in libraries.

In addition, the Center started collecting some manuscripts and digital copies of Nizami's works. Moreover, the Center also publishes articles on revival of  Nizami's legacy," he said.

The Center's recent events include the celebration of  UN's 75-year milestone anniversary of founding Charter with Marianna Vardinoyannis Foundation, the 65th Anniversary of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, the 30th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s prison release, a joint project with World Academy of Art and Science and a number of large-scale online conferences.

Secretary General of Nizami Ganjavi International Center Rovshan Muradov also shared the Center's future plans.

"So far, the upcoming events will be mainly conferences. We are also planning to hold a major virtual event during the UN general assembly with participation of all our members. The Center will also join a number of conferences that touch upon such issues as peace, security of children and much more. I would like to note that one of the Center's major goals is linked with the strengthening of  partnership with China. A number of conferences have been already successfully organized in China. The next conference "Role of China in international relations: prospects of one belt, one road initiative" will discuss the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the world," said Muradov.

Submission of films for the 11th Baku International Short Film Festival (BISFF), which will be held in Baku on November 13-17 this year, has begun. Established by the Center for Young Cinematographers ”CINEMA”, the festival is supported by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Nizami Cinema Center, The Guild of Producers, “02 MEDIA” and OZ FILM company are among the supporters of the festival. This year, the festival remains committed to the principle of “35 years, 35 minutes.“ Directors under the age of 35 must submit the film that should not exceed 35 minutes to the festival by September 1. There are international, local and Cinemobil competition sections at the festival. Foreign and local directors can participate in the international competition with fiction, documentary and animated films. The festival's programs for local directors are rich. Along with fiction, documentary and animation, social videos also join the local competition. The Cinemobil competition, in which mobile phone films compete, is also intended for local authors. Unlike previous years, this year participants can submit a film to the competition which do not exceed 5 minutes. Each author can submit his film on the festival website (www.filmfestival.az) and on the platform www.filmfreeway.com. The films are reviewed by the Selection Committee and included in the competition program. The official program of the festival will be announced on October 20. Films competing for the key prize of the festival, the Golden Pomegranate, will be judged by a jury of local and foreign experts. Always trying to support local directors, the festival will have newness this year. The festival will provide technical and post-production support for the next film project to the winners of the local competition for “Best Short Film“ and “Best Documentary Short Film“. The winner of the “Best Animated Short Film“ nomination will be supported only by post-production works of the next film project. Founded in 2004, the Baku International Short Film Festival is the longest-running festival in Azerbaijan, bringing to the country films that have won awards and success at Cannes, Venice, Berlin Film Festivals and Oscar award. Each year, the most interesting of more than 1,500 films sent from around the world are selected and included in the program of the festival. In addition, for five days at this festival the audience will have a chance to watch new films of local directors, who try to show the events in a different way and in interesting styles. The Baku ISFF reflects the growing interest in short films, which are considered to be the foundations of cinema in Azerbaijan, also encourage and support young cinematographers.