In the spring of 2019, youth activists from the Salaam Cinema society, carried out competent propaganda work, and prevented the demolition of a historic building in the center of Baku – the former Molokan Prayer House. The businessman who bought this house and planned to build a profitable residential building in its place did not achieve his goal. Perhaps while …

This July, a similar story is taking place around the historic two-story building of the former Oil Industry Hospital in the Khatai district of Baku, which is located inside the Leyla Medical Center complex. In 2019, Leila Shikhlinskaya sold her private clinic. The new owner decided to demolish the old building inside the complex and managed to destroy the internal structures of one historic building. The outer walls and the second building of the former Chernogorodskaya hospital remained. The beauty of the preserved walls indicates the architectural and historical value of the building.

The building of the Chernogorodskaya hospital was built in 1893-1895 by the decision of the congress of Baku oil industrialists, by the decree of Emperor Alexander II of 1866, which obliged to create medical institutions at enterprises that had more than a hundred workers. The historical archive contains a document on how the initiators of the construction, among whom were the oil magnates Isa Gadjinsky and Haji Zeynalabdin Tagiyev, won the right to build hospitals and pharmacies with them in Balakhani, Bibi-Heybat, Romani, in the White and Black City of Baku. Historians suggest that a bribe was given to the city government.

To finance the construction of the institution and its maintenance, the oil owners created a Fund, replenished by deductions for each pood of oil extracted.

The main building of the Chernogorodskaya hospital could accommodate 220 people. A separate children’s hospital (1905), designed for 50 people, and an obstetric department were built on the territory of the complex. The hospital employed 36 doctors, 3 dentists, 31 paramedics and midwives, 35 nurses and 23 pharmacists. They all received a good salary. Among them are famous doctors.

It is possible to create a museum of Azerbaijani medicine where, in particular, show visitors the history of the doctor Yevsey Gindes, who lived in Baku and treated children from poor families for free in this building. For this, in 1913, he was fired from this hospital. During the period of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, Dr. E.Ya. Gindes held the post of Minister of Health in one of the offices of Fatali Khan Khoysky.

The outer walls of the building have been preserved; it is not too late to save two buildings of the Chernogorodskaya hospital. Public activists Nijat Azimzade and Abdul Huseynov gathered around this goal. Architect Abdul Huseynov told Turan that the construction campaign initially threatened the activists, but the situation has changed.

“On July 14, 2021, a meeting was held with the leadership of the Main Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of the city of Baku, on the territory of one of the demolished hospital buildings. The main building, built in 1895, was examined. Now it does not function as a hospital, and is being prepared for demolition, as the Ministry of Emergency Situations gave a conclusion about the emergency state of this historic building, said Elbey Kasumzade, the Chairman of the Union of Architects. During our visual inspection of the building, no significant damage was noticed that could warrant such a conclusion and demolition. On the contrary, the coffered ceiling above the stairwells has been preserved in good state in the left and right wings of the building … ”, A. Huseynov told.

Huseynov and Azimzade also applied to the Ministry of Culture with a request to assess the value of the buildings and register them as a cultural heritage site.

Huseynov says that seeing the activity of public figures, the management of Leyla Medical Center came up with a proposal to reconstruct the building that they began to demolish. Activists oppose the clinic’s proposal.

Leyla Medical Center heard a question from Turan about the goals of this clinic in relation to historic buildings. They promised to answer, but they did not keep their word.

An employee of the department of the State Committee for Architecture and Urban Development (SC) Dilgam Azizov personally deals with this problem. In an interview with Turan, he said that the destruction and construction here was stopped by the decision of the Civil Code. According to Azizov, the Civil Code is waiting for an expert assessment from the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Culture, who will say if this building has cultural value and is it emergency.

The head of the press service of the State Committee, Ramiz Idrisoglu responded to Turan’s request, writing that he had not applied to the State Committee about the demolition of the former Chernogorodskaya hospital and the construction of something else in its place. Does this mean that the destroyers acted illegally? R. Idrisoglu answered this question as follows: the court can say that the demolition is in accordance with the law. We can talk about unauthorized destruction, since there was no appeal to the State Committee.

According to other sources, the Leila Medical Center turned to the Civil Code with a message about the preparation of a package of documents that will be submitted to the state committee for some work at this place. It will entail further destruction of the former Chernogorodskaya hospital, or the reconstruction of the remaining walls in accordance with the wishes of developers.

The defenders of the historic building are confident that the Ministry of Culture will add the object to the register of protected buildings, and the former Chernogorodskaya hospital will be saved. The MP Erkin Gadirli addressed the Ministry of Culture with a request to protect the building. According to Nijat Azimzade, the appeal from the deputy was sent on July 14, within a month the Ministry of Culture should receive a response.

Azimzade says that practically the main building of the Chernogorodskaya hospital was demolished, only part of the facade wall remained from it. However, the second building of the same former hospital, inside the courtyard, was not touched. These buildings can be restored and reused as hospitals. All the activists’ hope is now on respect for the history of Baku in two ministries – Emergencies and Culture. However, Baku residents know how mercilessly beautiful 3-4-storey residential buildings with stone Atlanteans were demolished in the city center…

Source: Turan News Agency