How the Azerbaijan Pavilion at VDNKh Swapped Cotton for Computers and Returned to Culture

The Azerbaijan Pavilion at VDNKh changed its exhibition theme three times. In 1939, its halls presented the agriculture and everyday culture of the Azerbaijan SSR; in 1959, industry and oil extraction took over much of the space; after the pavilion was repurposed in 1963, it showcased Soviet computing equipment. The Azerbaijan Centre, which opened following restoration in 2019, brought back a national programme, but did not recreate the displays of 1939.

The content changed before the exterior did. According to a VDNKh publication on its history, in 1959 the pavilion was still called ‘Azerbaijan SSR’, although most of its halls were devoted to the oil industry. The letters ‘VT’ appeared on the façade in 1966, after the computing exhibition had opened.

What did visitors see in the Azerbaijan SSR Pavilion in 1939?

The original exhibition occupied six halls. Two were introductory, while the others covered crop cultivation, cotton and irrigation, livestock farming and silk production, and culture and everyday life. Visitors found information on the republic’s economy, natural conditions and daily life presented side by side.

Architects Sadig Dadashov and Mikayil Huseynov designed the building for the opening of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition in 1939. VDNKh’s historical overview confirms the architects’ authorship and the original name, ‘Azerbaijan SSR’. National motifs in the decoration gave visitors a geographical context, but the main information was inside, as they moved from the introductory halls to individual aspects of the economy.

Presenting cotton alongside irrigation was a meaningful choice: the display linked the cotton plant to its growing conditions. The hall devoted to culture and everyday life took the story beyond agricultural statistics. The six halls presented different aspects of a single republic; the later exhibition devoted to a particular industry followed a different principle.

How did the decoration help convey the agricultural theme?

The book ‘The Architecture of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition of 1939’ lists cotton cultivation, fruit growing and livestock farming as themes in the Azerbaijan Pavilion. The author notes the shebeke stained-glass latticework, a stalactite vault decorated with grapevines, marble, majolica and stucco. The publication describes what visitors were invited to see; its enthusiastic assessments of the exhibition’s quality remain the opinion of a contemporary observer.

The grapevines on the vault echoed the theme of fruit growing, while the shebeke stained glass reflected Azerbaijan’s craft traditions. The 1939 book describes these details alongside the agricultural sections, but does not assign the motifs to specific halls. Without a floor plan, the precise decorative scheme cannot be reconstructed.

VDNKh’s historical overview describes the façade in greater detail: behind the marble portico was the recess of the main entrance, and the portal was decorated with a stained-glass window depicting fruit, cotton and wheat. The cornice was clad in coloured majolica, the window openings were fitted with walnut shebeke latticework, and the doors combined wooden mosaic with bronze. Cotton was both the subject of a hall and a decorative motif at the entrance. These details show the connection between the exhibition’s content and the building’s appearance, without reducing it to the generic label ‘Eastern style’.

A 1939 book by the architect A. F. Zhukov mentions the figures of a shepherd and a female collective farm worker standing before the tall portico. The sculptures signalled the theme of rural labour before visitors even entered. For visitors in 1939, this formed part of a coherent message: the façade, imagery and halls presented the republic as a participant in an agricultural exhibition. When computing machines were installed inside decades later, the old decoration no longer conveyed the exhibition’s content so directly.

Zhukov also described the general principle governing movement through the pavilions of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition: visitors explored one hall, then moved on to the next without returning to those already seen; the route was intended to follow the unfolding exhibition narrative. Displays were supplemented with photographs, diagrams, texts and physical objects. This is evidence of how the exhibition as a whole was organised, rather than a surviving plan of Pavilion No. 14’s six halls. It helps explain why the sequence of themes mattered, although the precise route through the Azerbaijan exhibition cannot yet be reconstructed.

Why should the 1939 pavilion be distinguished from its post-war version?

The original All-Union Agricultural Exhibition closed after the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War; in preparation for its reopening in 1954, many of its buildings were remodelled or rebuilt. The Azerbaijan SSR Pavilion retained much of its pre-war interior. In VDNKh’s report on the 2019 restoration specialists specifically note that the building escaped complete reconstruction in 1954, and that ceiling light fittings, traces of paint on the stucco and the marble plinth survived beneath later coverings.

A summary of the post-war works clarifies the nature of the post-war works. After the Great Patriotic War, the pavilion underwent major repairs: the side stylobates and entrance staircase were reconstructed, and the plinth was clad in red granite. The building retained its pre-war interiors, but the appearance of this part of it had already changed. The absence of complete reconstruction in 1954 therefore does not mean that every detail at the entrance survived in its original form until the restoration.

The survival of walls and decoration does not prove that the displays survived. Over twenty years, the exhibitions changed, and by 1959 the main themes had been rearranged. The restorers working in 2019 dealt with eight exhibition halls, whereas the account of the 1939 opening lists six. Without plans of the intervening alterations, it is impossible to establish when and why the two additional halls appeared.

How did oil change the exhibition while the name remained the same?

In 1959, most of the pavilion was devoted to Azerbaijan’s industrial achievements, particularly oil extraction. The name ‘Azerbaijan SSR’ remained until 1963, so the content began to change before the building was officially repurposed.

By VDNKh’s description, visitors were shown a model of an ultra-deep drilling rig, a model of an oilfield with a closed oil and gas collection system, and instruments for extraction and monitoring. Cotton remained the central theme of the agricultural section.

That same year, 1959, a glass conservatory was added to the rear façade: a winter garden with plants brought from the republic. The pavilion’s programme thus retained an agricultural section alongside its new industrial emphasis. However, the source does not allow the exact arrangement of exhibits or the visitor’s route between them to be reconstructed; the sequence of themes described is not a documented route through the halls.

The shift from cotton to oil was not an abrupt break. In 1959–1963, the exhibition still represented a single republic, but the selection of achievements already gave more space to industry. The phrase ‘the agricultural pavilion became a computing pavilion’ therefore skips an important intermediate chapter.

Why did industry arrive before the reorganisation by sector?

The oil industry section of 1959 followed several decisions to reallocate exhibition space. According to the state historical and cultural assessment report, a resolution dated 6 September 1955 transferred 12 pavilions of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition to the industry exhibition and allocated another nine to joint displays of industry and agriculture. By 1957, the programme occupied 21 buildings. A resolution dated 28 May 1958 merged the agricultural, industrial and construction exhibitions; the unified VDNKh of the USSR opened on 16 June 1959.

Within this arrangement, the Azerbaijan Pavilion fitted the overall programme: it could showcase an industry important to the republic while remaining a republican pavilion. The model drilling rig reflected the industrial emphasis, while cotton and the conservatory preserved the geographical and agricultural strands of the narrative. It is therefore useful to regard 1959 as an intermediate stage, but only as an editorial description: the documents identify specific objects and a new allocation of halls, rather than an official ‘transitional exhibition’.

What do the three oil industry exhibits reveal about the display?

The ultra-deep drilling model, the model oilfield with a closed oil and gas collection system, and the monitoring instruments showed different aspects of a single production process. The first illustrated how an oil-bearing formation was reached, the second how the extracted raw materials were handled, and the third how the process was measured and controlled. This sequence reconstructs the meaning of the list, rather than the arrangement of objects in the pavilion. The official VDNKh publication provides neither a floor plan of the hall nor labels for each instrument, so describing their operation in detail by reference to modern equivalents would be speculative.

In the 1939 exhibition, crop cultivation, cotton and irrigation occupied their own thematic halls. Twenty years later, cotton remained the main subject of the agricultural section, but most of the pavilion was already devoted to industry. This specific shift in emphasis matters more than the formal name. A visitor comparing the programmes of 1939 and 1959 would have seen different priorities in the selection of facts about the same republic.

Why did computing technology arrive here in the 1960s?

The Computing Technology pavilion at VDNKh acquired this name when it was repurposed in 1963. This coincided with a broader change in the exhibition’s organising principle: rather than allocating many halls to individual republics, the exhibition increasingly arranged them by branches of science and industry. An official publication links the change to a 1963 Council of Ministers resolution on reorganising the exhibition’s work.

Pavilion No. 14 makes the significance of the reform particularly clear. Before it, organisers could display cotton, oil industry equipment and plants brought from Azerbaijan in a single building: all three subjects shared a common origin. After the pavilion was repurposed, the exhibition focused on computing technology developed by Soviet scientists and engineers. The former national framework no longer determined what the halls contained.

Official VDNKh materials identify different milestones in this transition: a 2024 publication dates the repurposing to 1963, while a 2023 publication dates the opening of the Computing Technology exhibition to 1964. These dates describe two separate actions, so there is no need to force a choice of a single ‘correct’ date for the entire change.

What exactly does the 1963 resolution date?

The state historical and cultural assessment report gives the date of the resolution ‘On Reorganising the Work of VDNKh of the USSR’ as 18 April 1963. The document describes a shift to organisation by industrial sector and the display of the latest scientific achievements. From 1 October 1963 the Union republics’ pavilions were abolished as a separate category; from the beginning of 1964, themed exhibitions, including Computing Technology, were installed in the former republican buildings. The document explains the administrative framework, while VDNKh’s report of the computer exhibition opening in 1964 describes how it was put into practice specifically in Pavilion No. 14.

Following the resolution, organisers grouped exhibits by sector. The computers represented developments from across the USSR; their place of manufacture was no longer grounds for a separate pavilion. The republican theme remained in the building’s decoration, although the displays now described Soviet computing technology. From 1966, a metal screen concealed the historic façade.

VDNKh dates the opening of the computer exhibition to 1964, and the installation of the screen bearing the letters ‘VT’ to 1966. A photograph of the building with this sign shows a later stage of its use as an industry pavilion; it cannot establish when the computer exhibition began.

Which machines were shown in the computer exhibition?

VDNKh confirms the exhibition’s subject matter: electronic computers and control systems, office equipment, and developments by Soviet scientists and engineers. The available official accounts do not provide a reliable, complete list of models and the years in which they were displayed in Pavilion No. 14. It is therefore impossible to claim that a particular computer was exhibited here simply because it existed in the USSR at the same time.

The name continued to change: later VDNKh publications refer to the building as Computing Technology and Informatics. This wording belongs to the history of the pavilion’s use; it does not mean that the same set of devices was displayed at every stage of the computer exhibition.

What is known about a specific exhibit in the computer display?

A photograph from the VDNKh Media Library is dated 1966 and appears in the section on scientific and technological achievements of the 1960s. The archival caption places the photograph in the Computing Technology pavilion and describes ‘studying the EVM-17M’; it also gives the negative number O-77726. This is more specific evidence than a general reference to the latest machines. It records at least one episode of the computer exhibition in a particular year.

The archival caption has its limits. It does not say which hall the photograph was taken in, how long the machine remained in the pavilion, whether it operated in front of visitors or whether it formed part of a permanent display. A single image cannot reconstruct the full list of equipment exhibited over several decades. The media library provides no separate technical description of the ‘EVM-17M’ itself. In an essay by designer V. G. Belyakov for the Virtual Computer Museum the designation ‘MN-17M’ appears for an analogue computer. The similarity of the model designations does not prove that this is the machine in the photograph: without the exhibit’s documentation and a check of the original archival caption, the museum record cannot be amended to ‘MN-17M’, nor can that model’s specifications be attributed to the device.

Why was the historic façade covered with glass and metal?

In 1966, the building was covered with a false façade of glass and metal bearing the letters ‘VT’. Visitors now saw the sign of an industry pavilion, while the decoration recalling the Azerbaijan SSR remained behind the new outer layer. In 1967, reconstruction was carried out to a design by architect L. I. Marinovsky, as reported by VDNH.

In April 2014, the later cladding was dismantled, revealing majolica and part of the central façade; from 2018, restorers worked on the entrance and decorative finishes. VDNKh lists the stalactite vault with its grapevine decoration, the granite staircase, cornices, ceramic decoration and the conservatory’s metal framework among the restored elements. A separate guidebook dates the full restoration programme to 2014–2019. Dismantling the cladding did not mark the end of the work: craftspeople continued restoring the building’s appearance for several more years.

What did the cladding conceal, and what did it preserve?

Elements of majolica, the portico and moulded ornament survived behind the screen. While the ‘VT’ sign covered the façade, visitors could not see these details, although they remained part of the building. The surviving decoration allowed restorers to work with original material; missing sections had to be recreated using documents and surviving examples. An ordinary photograph of the façade cannot distinguish surviving elements from reproductions: that requires reports on the examination of individual elements.

The archival design, dated 27 November 1938 in the VDNKh Media Library, helps explain the original architectural vision of Dadashev and Useynov. But a drawing is not a photograph of the completed building: it does not describe the exhibits inside or establish which details may have changed during construction. Comparing the design with the restoration requires photographs of the pavilion as built and reports on the materials found. The building’s history cannot be reconstructed from a modern photograph alone: different types of documents are needed.

What happened in the pavilion between the computer exhibition and the restoration?

In the 1990s, the premises were leased for retail use unrelated to the themes of the earlier exhibitions. VDNKh also mentions a small wax museum. These activities had no single exhibition theme linking the halls, as the agricultural and computing exhibitions had.

During the restoration, specialists discovered a concealed fountain basin in the winter garden, added in 1959, and restored it. A 2024 VDNKh publication describes the basin as having been filled with concrete during the years of retail use; a 2025 review states that it had been filled in. Both sources confirm the discovery, but differ in their accounts of the later infill.

How did Pavilion No. 14 become a venue for Azerbaijan again?

Restoring the national theme required a separate decision, half a century after the pavilion had been repurposed for an industry-specific exhibition. The 2013–2017 report of the CIS Interstate Council for Exhibition, Fair and Congress Activities records two steps: on 15 September 2014, the governments of Russia and Azerbaijan signed an agreement to establish a centre at the exhibition complex, and a protocol of July 2015 replaced the previously designated Pavilion No. 71, ‘Atomic Energy’, with No. 14, ‘Computing Technology and Informatics’.

The same document notes the historical connection between Building No. 14 and the exhibition of the Azerbaijan SSR. This helps explain the choice, although the report does not reveal all the reasons behind it. The 2015 protocol still uses the pavilion’s industry-specific name: the change in its future programme did not retrospectively rewrite its Soviet history or bring back the exhibits of 1939.

Next came the formal arrangements for using the building and preparations for the work. In October 2016, Moscow’s Department of City Property signed a lease with an authorised Azerbaijani company; in December 2017, the company signed contracts for design and restoration. The report envisaged the centre opening in September 2018, but this was a plan. VDNKh dates the opening ceremony to 23 November 2019. The forecast in the earlier document therefore cannot be presented as the date when the completed exhibition began welcoming visitors.

What exactly returned to the pavilion in 2019?

Following restoration, the Exhibition and Trade Centre of the Republic of Azerbaijan opened in 2019. It housed a permanent museum exhibition on the country’s history, culture, crafts and development. The official pavilion page also lists exhibition spaces, a library and a retail area.

‘The return of Azerbaijan’ describes the exhibition’s new theme, but does not mean that the exhibits are the same as those of 1939. Back then, six halls presented the achievements of the Soviet republic at an agricultural exhibition; the centre that opened in 2019 presents the history and culture of the modern country and uses the building for a changing programme. This illustrates the distinction between restoring historic architecture and creating a new exhibition.

Restorers uncovered parts of the 1939 interiors, restored decorative elements, shebeke stained-glass windows and the grand staircase, and recreated the lost entrance sculptures from surviving casts. VDNKh lists these works separately. The words ‘preserved’, ‘restored’ and ‘recreated’ describe different states of the objects; they should not be replaced by the blanket claim that ‘everything was put back as it was’.

How was the historic interior investigated and restored?

The restoration extended beyond the main façade. In January 2019, VDNKh reported on the uncovering of elements of the 1939 interior under the supervision of Moscow’s Department of Cultural Heritage: ceiling light panels, traces of paint on the mouldings and a marble plinth. In the eight exhibition halls that existed at the time, specialists worked on the brickwork, flooring, lost portals, windows and doors. This number relates to the scope of the restoration, rather than the exhibition programme at the 1939 opening.

VDNKh’s 2025 summary lists the uncovered rooflights, refurbished marble cladding on the pilasters and plinths, restored polychrome paintwork of the ceiling pattern and recreated marble mosaic flooring. The publication’s authors link the multicoloured decoration to Azerbaijani carpet weaving. The interior finishes retained the national theme even when the exhibition displays focused on Soviet computing technology.

VDNKh’s January 2019 publication names the colours of the restored interior: blue, green and burgundy, with bronze paint. Restorers found traces of paint on the mouldings beneath later coatings, and drew on the original multicoloured palette when restoring the ceiling pattern. The colours visible today combine surviving sections with restoration work; a single modern photograph cannot show where one ends and the other begins.

Why can the current sculptures not be called originals from 1939?

The figures ‘Shepherd’ and ‘Azerbaijani Woman’ by Fuad Abdurakhmanov, which stood at the entrance, had been lost. In 2018, restorers found the sculptor’s plaster casts in the collections of the Azerbaijan National Museum of Art; later bronze copies were also held there. After examining the plaster models, specialists decided to make silicone moulds from them and send these to Moscow to cast the figures. This sequence of work is described in VDNKh’s announcement of 3 December 2018. The restorers relied on surviving models, although the original sculptures have not survived to the present day.

The current figures were recreated from the sculptor’s casts and cast in the 21st century. The pair of fountain basins at the entrance were reproduced using historical records; the basin in the conservatory, by contrast, was discovered beneath later infill and restored.

How are shebeke stained-glass windows constructed?

Shebeke latticework combines small wooden pieces with coloured glass. VDNKh clarifies, stating that some of the stained-glass windows were preserved and restored during the restoration, while others were recreated. The official description specifies walnut wood and the assembly of small elements without nails or glue. For visitors, this offers an understanding of the materials rather than simply a label of ‘national ornament’: the glass inserts provide the colour, while the geometric wooden framework holds the pattern together.

A historical publication from 1939 had already drawn attention to the shebeke window latticework. Comparing it with the restoration report makes it possible to trace the continuity of the artistic technique, but does not prove that every detail has survived. VDNKh reports, stating that some of the stained-glass windows were restored and others recreated; the review does not specify which lattices date entirely from 1939. The pavilion today reveals both the architects’ original vision and the work of the restorers in the 2010s.

How does the current exhibition differ from the six halls of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition?

In December 2019, VDNKh described the new centre’s programme as comprising five parts. The entrance area, with its interactive displays, presented Azerbaijan’s history, geography and culture. The permanent exhibition of decorative and applied arts displayed carpets, musical instruments, jewellery, ceramic tableware, coins, clothing and textiles. Tourist information, a space for temporary exhibitions and a library were also provided. This describes the programme at the opening, rather than guaranteeing that every exhibit remains unchanged in 2026.

A comparison with 1939 reveals a different emphasis. The Soviet pavilion told the story of the republic’s economic achievements; the centre’s permanent exhibition in 2019 focused on objects representing culture and crafts. A carpet can be viewed as a craftsperson’s work and an example of technique, rather than a backdrop to crop yield figures. A musical instrument or an item of clothing conveys tradition differently from a model drilling rig. Changing the selection of objects also changes the questions visitors ask, even as they walk beneath the same historic vault.

In VDNKh’s announcement of 26 December 2019 linked the temporary exhibition to Azerbaijani artists of the 1960s–1970s, including Togrul Narimanbekov and Sattar Bahlulzade. This is a fact about the programme in late 2019. Without a listing for September 2026, this exhibition cannot be assumed to be running. By the end of 2025 VDNKh had confirmed, that the gallery continues to host changing exhibitions, while the museum exhibition and library remain permanent parts of the centre.

The changing programme reveals how the way of presenting familiar themes has evolved. In autumn 2023, VDNKh announced a photography exhibition in Pavilion No. 14 entitled ‘Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev — Industrialist and Philanthropist. The Role of the Individual in the History of Russia and Azerbaijan’. Several dozen photographs linked the life of the entrepreneur, who lived from 1838 to 1923, to oil extraction and philanthropy. In 1959, the oil section explained production through a model drilling rig and instruments; in 2023, the organisers chose photographs and a personal story.

VDNKh’s 2023 overview gives other examples of the changing programme: in 2021, the pavilion displayed family photographs of the artist Tahir Salahov and a video installation by Kayhan Salahov, while in 2022 it hosted the exhibition ‘The Azerbaijani Carpet. A New Perspective’. These projects explored the artist’s life and the history of the craft, complementing the centre’s permanent exhibition in those years.

What does the conservatory tell us about different eras?

The winter garden was added to the rear façade in 1959 to display plants brought from Azerbaijan. Contemporary documentation for each planting has yet to be found, but VDNKh has confirmed the history of the extension itself. In 2025, VDNKh described a functioning botanical garden with pomegranate and olive trees, citrus plants and a fountain with goldfish. Between these two dates came a period of commercial use, when the fountain basin was filled in; it was later rediscovered by restorers.

Why is the centre’s opening date described in two different ways?

The centre’s official page and VDNKh’s historical overviews identify 23 November 2019 as the date of the centre’s ceremonial opening. In a news item dated 26 December 2019, VDNKh reported that the pavilion had ‘opened its doors’ to visitors and listed the areas available to them. The first date confirms the ceremony; the second marks the publication of a report on the exhibition spaces in operation. Neither report establishes whether entry was closed between the two dates.

How can you trace the pavilion’s history through what is visible today?

When visiting Pavilion No. 14, it is useful to bear in mind four layers of its history: the six themed halls of 1939, the industrial display of 1959, the specialist computing exhibition after 1963 and the cultural centre opened in 2019. The present interior does not recreate all these exhibitions at once.

With the metal screen removed, the majolica and portico are visible once more; the fountain in the winter garden has been restored, and the halls present the history and culture of Azerbaijan. These features reflect decisions made at different times: the architecture of 1939, the extension of 1959 and the restoration of the 2010s. Changes in the programme can be traced through the surviving and recreated parts of the building, alongside documents recording changes in exhibition themes.

You can see these layers of history in person during VDNKh and Space tour: the bureau’s itinerary includes a visit inside the Azerbaijan pavilion. Once you know its exhibition history, it becomes easier to distinguish traces of the old building from the new exhibition in the space today.

Sources

1. VDNKh: Over Three Million People Visited the Azerbaijan Centre in Five Years
2. VDNKh: Which Pavilions Preserve Their Historical Significance
3. VDNKh: Historical Background on the National Pavilions of the Former Soviet Republics
4. VDNKh: The History of the Exhibition
5. VDNKh: Pavilion No. 14, Exhibition and Trade Centre of the Republic of Azerbaijan
6. VDNKh: how the restoration of the Azerbaijan Pavilion is progressing
7. The Architecture of the 1939 All-Union Agricultural Exhibition
8. State Historical and Cultural Expert Assessment Report: the History of VDNKh
9. VDNKh Media Library: the ‘Computing Technology’ Pavilion, studying the EVM-17M computer
10. VDNKh Media Library: design for the main façade of the Azerbaijan SSR Pavilion
11. VDNKh: historic sculptures to be returned to Pavilion No. 14
12. VDNKh: six years of the Republic of Azerbaijan Exhibition and Trade Centre
13. VDNKh: Pavilion No. 14 ‘Azerbaijan’ after its opening
14. CIS Interstate Council: report on activities for 2013–2017
15. VDNKh: official opening ceremony of the Azerbaijan Pavilion
16. Virtual Computer Museum: analogue computers from NIISchyotmash
17. VDNKh: history, culture and crafts at the Republic of Azerbaijan Centre
18. VDNKh: an exhibition about Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev in Pavilion No. 14
19. Radius: ‘VDNKh and Space’ tour
20. VDNKh: a guide to its restored landmarks