Museum of Independence, Baku

Museum of Independence, Baku ( if you know Azeri or Russian) - darkometer rating : 4 - A museum in central Baku dedicated not only to Azerbaijan 's independence as such, but more so to the struggle for it as well as the achievements since. It's quaint and a bit obscure in parts, but worth a look. > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos What there is to see: Once you've made it to the entrance (dodging the crazy traffic on the wide boulevards either side of the building) you first have to go upstairs, ignoring the entrance to the main feature of the museum complex, the Carpet Museum. Curiously, the building used to be a Lenin Museum in Soviet days ... I wonder what the exhibits were and what became of them. The Museum of Independence is to the left on the second floor and comprises four connected halls, set out in a classic, or even old-fashioned museum manner. Labelling is all in Azeri and sometimes in Russian. Many of the text documents displayed, especially of course those from Soviet times, are also in Russian. You'll find hardly anything in other languages, except the odd book title, a couple even in English. Without some knowledge of Azeri/Turkish or at least Russian, you won't get that much information out of the museum. Still, several artefacts speak for themselves. And some of the Azeri can be semi-deciphered through educated guesses. The museum exhibition follows a roughly chronological path, with a section devoted to the brief period of independence at the end of World War One , which was quickly ended by the Soviet Union swallowing up Azerbaijan in the 1920s. The dark days under Stalin , as well as WWII get a mention, including the threat to Baku coming from Nazi Germany .