Heydar Aliyev Center

Cultural Centre Designed By Zaha Hadid And Opened In 2012, A Continuous Curving Shell With No Straight Lines Or Corners. Winner Of The Design Museum'S Design Of The Year 2014. Houses A Museum, Exhibition Halls And An Auditorium, With A Park Outside. · Baku, Baku

The Heydar Aliyev Center is a cultural building in central Baku designed by Zaha Hadid and opened in 2012, one continuous white shell that rises from the plaza in folds and curves with no straight lines or sharp corners. It covers roughly 57,000 square metres, and the exterior is the main reason to come: you can walk the plaza and the park around it for free at any hour, and the building changes with every angle and every hour of light. Inside there are exhibition halls, an auditorium, a museum devoted to Heydar Aliyev, and displays of national art and traditional music instruments, though the temporary shows change often and should be checked before you buy a ticket. It stands about 4 km from the Old City, with a pond and a park in front of it, and it is lit at night. Weekends can be crowded at the entrance. Visiting costs nothing if you stay outside, and the sweep of the curves is best understood by walking all the way round it, not by standing at one spot.

Flowing white cultural centre on Heydar Aliyev Avenue in central Baku, about 4 km north-west of the Old City, Baku, Baku, Azerbaijan

The plaza, the pond and the park outside are open at all hours and free, and the lit building is worth a night visit. The interior has its own ticket and opening hours, roughly from late morning to early evening, and the closed day varies, so verify before you go. Special exhibitions can have different times. Weekend afternoons draw a queue at the entrance.

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