Discussions on the social network about the Ashıg Alasgar monument, which was inaugurated these days, once again brought up a long-forgotten topic. We are talking about the statue of Babek, leader of the Khurrami movement, the warlord who led the war of liberation against the Arab caliphate, which the population of the capital has been waiting for many years to be erected.
It should be noted that on September 6, 2011, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on the erection of a monument to the outstanding Azerbaijani general Babak in Baku. Although 13 years have passed since the signing of the decree, it has not yet been implemented.
It should be remembered that at that time the construction of the monument was entrusted to the popular artist, the sculptor Arif Gaziyev.
Until his death 3 years ago, he announced that the statue would be installed today and tomorrow, but the expected results did not occur.
The pedestal of the monument, considered the tallest statue in the Caucasus, is still empty on Babek Avenue. As they say, Babak’s luck does not open.
He said that some issues were delayed for political reasons: the Iranian factor, others for financial and creative work deficiencies.
So what will happen to the statue that has been expected to be erected for 13 years? Will residents of the capital finally be able to see the Babek statue this year?
“You don’t make a statue for your house…”
Popular artist and architect Khalil Huseynov, who spoke to Bizim.media about the issue, claims that the reason for the delay is not due to lack of funds:
“The author is 100 percent to blame for the fact that the statue has not been erected until now. The deceased made fun of this work and brought it to this place. He said: “I don’t want it,” “it shouldn’t be like this,” and calmed down. We could have easily erected that statue in 2014. I know there were no financial problems at that time. A year later, it all happened. The price of iron also increased. .
Our interviewer says that at that time he also invited an expert from Ukraine about that statue:
“At that time, the deceased forced me to talk to the “superior” and bring enlargers for the statue from Ukraine (the experts were engaged in enlarging the small model of the statue and making it out of plaster – ed.).
That’s why I went to Ukraine. I brought the best magnifying glasses. He worked together with them. I also have videos of them working. But when the work was finished, he complained. Here and there he complained that the Ukrainians had done their job badly. He said no, let’s do our thing. However, I had previously proposed two of our specialists, but they did not agree.
I told myself that. He said that I listened to the words of others and made that decision. And I said, you don’t make a statue for your house… This is serious work. There is an order from the head of state in this regard. Something… I mean, he had those whims.
The “Babek” conversation tired me a lot…
To be honest, I wasn’t familiar with his character. If I knew, I wouldn’t agree. They called a craftsman to work, he came to work and then they took him to court because they were not satisfied. I was also forced to go to court over this issue as a company that employed them. That is to say, I suffered a lot in relation to that work. I was too tired to talk about statues. In the end it happened.”
Khalil Huseynov says that the preparation of “Babak” was entrusted from the beginning to other sculptors: Akif Askerov and Natig Aliyev. But Master Arif made a small statue of Babak for the exhibition at that time, so it was given to him later:
“When this work was entrusted to our company, I invited Akif Asgarov and Natig Aliyev. Even then, Akif went and spoke to him without telling me. His workshops were next door. Even then, I was a little offended that he made an offer without telling me. “
“You can outsource…”
“We, together with the head of the Cabinet of Ministers, Ali, traveled almost all over Baku and looked for a place to make the statue look majestic,” said our interlocutor, noting that he received a response from the executive branch of the city of Baku about the suspension of the work a few years ago:
“I don’t know what the reason is. But they told me that the project will be reviewed. I understood that the work can be commissioned from another sculptor.”
The Baku City Executive Authority and the Ministry of Culture were contacted about the issue. “We are only addressing the placement of the statue. The Ministry of Culture is studying the issue of preparing the statue and reworking it,” responded from the Executive Branch.
The press service of the Ministry of Culture answered the questions succinctly: “we do not have that information.”
