The monument to Hasan-bek Zardabi in Baku is a monument to the famous Azerbaijani publicist and educator, located in the historical center of Baku, near the building of the Main Editorial Office of the Azerbaijan National Encyclopedia. It was installed in the early 1970s. The authors of the monument are sculptor E. Huseynova and architect Z. Guliyeva.

The monument is a bronze art composition depicting Zardabi sitting under a tree and reading something attentively. The tree bent its branches over the head of the enlightener. The sculpture is installed without a pedestal and has no explanatory inscriptions.

From the biography of Zardabi

Hasan bey Salimbek oglu Melikov (Zardabi) was born on November 12, 1837 in the village of Zardab, Geokchay district. He received his primary education in a mollakhan, then studied at a district school in Shemakha, and then in Tiflis. From 1861 to 1865 studied at Moscow University at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and became the first Azerbaijani to graduate from Moscow University. He worked in Tiflis (boundary chamber), Guba (judge’s secretary) and Baku (natural science teacher).

He hoped that the school, newspaper and theater “will turn the Muslim worldview.” That “Muslims” (Azerbaijanis) with the help of the Enlightenment will be able to cross from one era to another.

The “Ekinchi” founded by him gave birth to “Hayat” and “Fiyuzat”, prepared the ground for the emergence of the historical “Molla Nasreddin”. A network of national theater and schools was formed. The number of charitable societies has grown, important steps have been taken in education. The number of young people who went to study at Russian and European universities has noticeably increased. National identity and a sense of national dignity “stirred up” a large part of society.

About the monument

Hasan bey was so popular among the people that the city Duma decided to assign his name to the 2nd Russian-Azerbaijani school and establish a scholarship in his name at Moscow University.

On this day, press workers will honor the memory of publicist, educator Hasan bey Zardabi by laying flowers at his monument located in the historical center of Baku Icheri Sheher, near the building of the Main Editorial Office of the Azerbaijan National Encyclopedia. It was installed in 1979. The authors of the monument are sculptor Elmira Huseynova and architect Zeynab Guliyeva.

Huseynova portrayed Zardabi reading a newspaper under the crown of a bent tree. Granite pedestal, bronze sculpture – 4 meters.

In her future work, she tried to convey the poetry and aristocracy of Zardabi’s appearance.

To do this, she studied the details of his childhood and the family in which he grew up. I looked through and studied the style of clothing and hats of that time from men. Hasan bey loved to wear the national headdress, and the sculptor tried to present it artistically, but taking into account her creative manner and style in art. She was a big fan of the works of Rodin, Mayol, Bourdelle. Her handwriting in sculpture was distinguished by expression and at the same time solidity, preservation of the integrity of forms.

Huseynova made a lot of sculptors – monuments to the luminaries of science and culture. She is the author of a memorial plaque to the Nobel Prize laureate, physicist L.D. Landau, located on the house in which the scientist lived. The figure of the Russian scientist-chemist D.S. Mendeleev, included in the sculptural ensemble installed on the facade of the building of the Azerbaijan State National Library named after M.F. Akhundov, the bas-relief of Jafar Jabbarli at the grave of the writer in the Alley of Honor.