Palace of Happiness

Palace of Happiness
Səadət Sarayı (Azerbaijani)

Main façade overlooking Istiglaliyyat Street
Former names Mukhtarov Palace
Alternative names Palace of Marriage Registrations
General information
Architectural style Gothic
Location Baku, Sabail Raion, Istiglaliyyat St. 4
Country Azerbaijan
Construction started 1911
Completed 1912
Owner Mayoralty of Baku
Technical details
Floor count 5
Design and construction
Architect Józef Płoszko

The Palace of Happiness (Azerbaijani: Səadət Sarayı), currently also called Palace of Marriage Registrations and previously called Mukhtarov Palace, is a historic building in the center of Baku, Azerbaijan, built in Neo-Gothic style in the early 20th century.

History

The building was built by an Azerbaijani Oil Baron Murtuza Mukhtarov for his wife Liza-Khanum Tuganova. The designer was the Polish architect Józef Plośko who had also built several other historic buildings in Baku in the early 20th century.[1]

Mukhtarv often took his wife Lisa Tuganova, who was of Ossetian origin and the daughter of the Russian General Tuganov, on expensive trips to Europe. During one of their trips to France, they came across a beautiful French Gothic building.[2] Lisa, astonished by its architecture said: "How happy the tenants of this building must be." Mukhtarov did not reply but on his return to Baku, he ordered his people off to France to purchase blue prints of the building and bring them back to Baku. An exact copy of the building was raised in central Baku within nine months. On its completion in 1912, Mukhtarov surprised his wife by driving her there in a carriage and telling her that it was her new residence.[1]

The couple still lived in the palace until 28 April 1920, when the Bolsheviks occupied Azerbaijan. Upon entering the building, three Russian officers were shot by Mukhtarov himself, after which he committed suicide.[1] After the Sovietization in 1920 the building was given to the Club of Liberated Turkic Women, after which it functioned as Shirvanshahs Museum. During the existence of Azerbaijan SSR, the palace functioned as the Palace of Marriage Registrations. On 2 August 2001, by a resolution issued by the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan, the building was listed as real estate of historic and state importance and was to be protected as a monument of Azerbaijani culture.[3] The street lying on the right side of the building carries the name of Murtuza Mukhtarov.[4] On 5 July 2012 the building has been reopened after major overhaul and restoration.[5]

References

Coordinates: 40°23′43″N 49°52′56″E / 40.39528°N 49.88222°E / 40.39528; 49.88222

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