The architecture of the Stalin Empire style period, 1940-1960s
The architectural policy that replaced the constructivism during Joseph Stalin’s rule, envisaged designing in the style of Soviet monumental classicism associated with the school of socialist realism in art and architecture.
The Soviet government «persistently» assisted the national architecture in acquiring the «local flavor» by ordering to create in the Soviet republics art, «national in form and socialist in content». But it was possible to respond to this differently. Baku architects, who possessed a delicate taste, instilled the original warmth of Italian flavor into the city’s Stalinist neoclassicism. The national-romantic trend of the Baku neoclassicism is full of joy and light, love and comfort.
The distinctive features of the style comprised of an integrated approach to the ensemble construction of streets and squares, the synthesis of architecture, sculpture and painting, the use of architectural orders, bas-reliefs with heraldic compositions and images of workers, as well as on the themes of triumph and regalia of power, solemnity, theatricality, optimistic mood of the whole piece of work, the use of marble, bronze, precious wood and stucco molding in the design of public interiors.
