page_title: National Museum of History of Azerbaijan
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: National Museum of History of Azerbaijan / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Музей истории Азербайджана один из залов.
context_page_description: The National Museum of History of Azerbaijan is the largest museum in Azerbaijan, located in Baku, in the former mansion of Azerbaijani oil magnate and philanthropist Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev. It was founded in 1920 and opened to visitors in 1921.
context_section_description: On the second floor of Taghiyev's residence, side by side there are two major ballrooms. One is based on Oriental designs (Mauritanian) style and the other, on Occidental design. The Oriental Room has enormous plate glass windows, gilded arches, highly ornamental walls, ceilings and chandeliers. The lines in the Occidental Room are more perpendicular to each other – rectangular.
  According to photographs that are about 90 years old, one of the most elaborate rooms was Taghiyev's wife's boudoir (private sitting room). All of the movable furniture and paintings in this room have disappeared. Nothing remains today except the ornate mirrored mosaic ceiling. During the Soviet period, four layers of white paint were applied over the highly decorative floral designs on the walls. Still in the main halls of the residence, the original paint has withstood the passage of time incredibly well. The paint was made of finely ground egg shell as was the practice of artists of Byzantine icons. Nearly 100 years later, the original colors with their subtlety and sophistication have neither faded nor chipped.
caption: Museum's exposition
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