NATIONAL CEMETERY

A first cemetery was built in the 1930 s by the Russians to celebrate the heroes of the Bolshevik Revolution. After independence, he began to welcome the remains of the great men of the young nation: academics, poets, politicians, historians… Only the President has the power to decide whether to bury this particular great man here. The government then assumes the funeral after the deceased's family approved the draft grave. Among the most emblematic tombs, we will find that of Ouzeir Gadjibekov, author in 1908 of the first opera to the east, Leili and Majnoun, a local Romeo and Juliet where the children of two wealthy viscerally enemy families try to make a place for their love. In this still Muslim country, the role of the young woman Leyli was held by a man who concealed his mustache under a veil. But his voice has so enchanted the spectators that some men fallen in love, we are told, were surprised to find themselves facing this mustache by going to offer him flowers in his dressing room… History ended tragically since the actor in question was killed by Muslim fanatics two years later for incarnating a woman on stage.

We will also note the grave of the poet Bakhtiar Vahabzadeh (1925-2009), who, from a very early age, fought against Soviet occupation and numbered many years in prison for daring to write on subjects as dissident as freedom or independence. Surrounded by three pyramids covered with impeccable lawn and preceded by a fresco depicting the beauty of the Azerbaijani landscapes, the tomb of President Heydar Aliyev, topped with a marble statue, obviously occupies a place of choice in the cemetery.