page_title: Poles in Azerbaijan
section_title: Catholic role
hierarchical_section_title: Poles in Azerbaijan / History of Poles in Azerbaijan / Catholic role
caption_attribution_description: Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Taken from [1] This is a historic photograph showing a Roman Catholic Church in Baku before Joseph Stalin ordered it demolished in 1931. This is a historically significant photo of a building that no longer exists.
context_page_description: There is a long history of Poles in Azerbaijan. Although the current Polish population of the Republic of Azerbaijan is lower than in former times, the number of people with Polish descent in the capital city Baku is around 2,000 and several thousand self-identified Poles live in Azerbaijan. Poles as an ethnic group have lived in Azerbaijan for centuries. The Russian Empire included Azerbaijan and parts of Poland during the 19th century, this was a significant cause of the Polish minority in Azerbaijan.
context_section_description: Roman Catholic Benevolent Society and the Polish Community were formed on 5 January 1903. The Society opened a library-reading room. Scheduled was a refuge for old people and children. Reading was the only company in a free reading room. Chairman of the Society was known oil magnate Stefan Rylski. Society headquarters building located in Rilski. This building (architect J. Płoszko) has been preserved to this day. (Street Memmedeliyev, 11). April 27, 1903, he was enlightened by the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the foundation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At that time, the number of Catholics have already reached 9-10 thousands of people.
  Father Stefan Demurow was pastor of a Catholic church in Baku. Demurow Stefan was born in Tbilisi in 1871, graduated from seminary in 1895. and before the arrival in Baku was the pastor of a Christian church in Kutaisi (1895–1902) and Perekopiu (1902–1904).
  The Stalinist era was very damaging to religious organizations. From the 1930s the Soviet regime began mass repression, arresting one thousand priests. In 1938, the Catholic church in Baku was destroyed. But Catholics were meeting secretly, with risking their own life. Demurow was arrested on November 14, 1937 and sentenced to death. After the tragic events in Azerbaijan Catholicism ceased to exist. The revival occurred only after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1992 a group of Poles in Baku asked the Vatican to create opportunities for the pastoral care of religious Poles. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1997 group of Polish Christians with a priest from Poland - Jerzy Pilyus arrived in Baku. In 2002 Pope John Paul II officially visited Azerbaijan. He was initially invited by Azerbaijan's then president, Heydar Aliyev. Thanks to his visit, President Aliyev gave the Catholic Church a plot of land to build a church. The building was funded by proceeds from Pope John Paul II's book sales and foreign donations.
caption: The old Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary's Immaculate Conception (on the left) in Baku
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