Armenian Heritage of Baku

One of the most beautiful structures in Baku is the “Grand Opera House of the Mailov Brothers”, now known as the Azerbaijani State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. It was funded by the Mailov brothers, millionaires who hailed from a cultured Armenian family.

The younger brother, Ilya Lazarevich, was a successful doctor, while the elder, Daniil, was a businessman and a member of the accounting and loan trade-industrial committee. The brothers’ business, primarily in the caviar industry where they had their own fisheries and production workshops, thrived. In Russia, they were celebrated as the “kings of caviar”.

The theatre’s design, crafted in the “Renaissance” style, was the brainchild of the civil engineer Baev. Nikolai Georgievich Baev (Nikogayos Gevorkovich Baev), of Armenian descent, was born in 1875 in Astrakhan. From 1911, he served as the chief engineer of the Baku City Administration.

During this time, he was responsible for constructing several buildings in Baku, including the Azerbaijani Opera and Ballet Theatre (formerly known as the Theatre of the Mailov Brothers), the Sabunchinsky railway station, a residential block in the Armenikend district, and various other edifices.

Source: Michael Osipov

Tranclated by Vigen Avetisyan