Former names Mukhtarov Palace Completed 1912 Opened 1912 Owner Mayoralty of Baku Construction started 1911 | Country Azerbaijan Floor count 5 Floors 5 Architectural style Gothic architecture Architect Józef Płoszko | |
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Alternative names Palace of Marriage Registrations Location Baku, Sabail Raion, Istiglaliyyat St. 4 Similar Azeri TV Tower, Church of the Immacula, Tuba Shahi Mosque, Palatial mosque in Baku, Sheikh İbrahim Mosque | ||
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.
Contents
Map of Palace of Happiness, Baku, Azerbaijan
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.
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. 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.
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. 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. The street lying on the right side of the building carries the name of Murtuza Mukhtarov. On 5 July 2012 the building has been reopened after major overhaul and restoration.