Mikayil Useynov belongs to the record of architecture as a figure whose buildings outlasted the taste that commissioned them.
The record lists Mikayil Useynov as Azerbaijani architect (1905-1992).
Mikayil Useynov was born in 1905. His recorded nationality is Russian Empire.
Modernism rejected ornament and historical style, arguing that a building should express its structure and its function - a claim contested ever since.
He is recorded as architect and politician.
Among his best-known works are Nizami Museum of Azerbaijani Literature, Nizami Cinema and National Library of Azerbaijan. Architecture is the art that cannot be avoided: people live inside the argument.
Recognition followed: Order of Lenin, Hero of Socialist Labour, Order of the Red Banner of Labour and Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union Prize.
That the work was built in Russian Empire shaped it: climate, materials, planning law and who holds the budget all decide what can actually be built.
Mikayil Useynov died in 1992, aged 87. The buildings remain, still in use by people who never knew the name - which is the particular afterlife architecture offers.
Achievements
- Notable work: Nizami Museum of Azerbaijani Literature
- Notable work: Nizami Cinema
- Notable work: National Library of Azerbaijan
- Notable work: Baku Academy of Music
- Order of Lenin
- Hero of Socialist Labour
- Order of the Red Banner of Labour
