Azerbaijan hires top architect to mark dynasty

AZERBAIJAN'S ruling elite has grown rich from oil and now it is to acquire the ultimate status symbol: a monument to the president's father designed by one of the world's most sought-after architects.

The Azeri government has commissioned Zaha Hadid, an Iraqi-born Briton best known for designing a cutting-edge plant for the carmaker BMW in Leipzig, to build a cultural centre in honour of Heydar Aliyev, the man who founded the ruling dynasty.

The undulating glass and aluminium structure will rise up alongside oil-blackened Soviet-era factories in the capital of a country that just a few years ago was in economic chaos and reeling from a war with its neighbour, Armenia.

It will also deepen the posthumous cult of personality around the former KGB officer who ran Azerbaijan for three decades before his death in 2003. His son, Ilham Aliyev, a reformed playboy, took over the presidency.

"This centre will be an example of respect for the legacy of Heydar Aliyev and become a symbol of Azerbaijan's modern capital," Ilham Aliyev said at a ceremony marking the start of work.

Azerbaijan is following the example of other former Soviet states that have brought in big-name architects to translate their new-found oil wealth into steel and concrete.

Kazakhstan hired Norman Foster to design a huge glass pyramid in its capital, Astana, a city built almost from scratch in the empty steppes.

Azerbaijan's cultural centre in Baku will be the most distinctive building to go up in the city in a generation.

Due for completion in 2009, it will house a concert hall seating 1,284, a library, a museum and underground parking for 1,350 cars, the developers say.

Although they refuse to reveal how much it will cost, the project, to be paid for by the government, is likely to run into tens of millions of pounds.

It will be a major outlay for a country where, according to the World Bank, the average monthly income is about £125 and 29 per cent of the population live in poverty.