Rasul Rza House Museum, Baku

Rasul Rza's house-museum — the house-museum of Rasul Rza, a representative of Azerbaijani literature, People's Poet, State Prize laureate, located in Baku. The museum is a memorial cultural institution reflecting the poet's rich artistic heritage created over nearly half a century, and his life and activity. While the poet's house-museum in the city of Goycha was created in 2004, the house-museum in Baku was officially founded in 2022 and was opened to the public in 2025.

History

The building in which the museum is located is a historic architectural monument belonging to the 19th century. Rasul Rza lived in an apartment in this building together with his wife, the renowned People's Poet Nigar Rafibeyli, during 1938–1981.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, taking into account the important contributions of People's Poet Rasul Rza to the development of Azerbaijani literature, signed Decree No. 3337 on 23 June 2022. According to the decree, the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan was tasked with ensuring the implementation of necessary measures for the creation of Rasul Rza's house-museum at the address Baku city, Sabail district, 21/26 Rasul Rza Street, apartment 18. The museum was officially founded in 2023. Although the People's Writer Anar raised the issue of certain delays during the creation process, the design and construction works of the museum have been completed.

On 31 May 2025, the solemn opening ceremony of the Rasul Rza House Museum was held in Baku. At the beginning of the ceremony, the poem “Dünyanın dərdi,” an archival material taken on tape by Rasul Rza, was recited. At the event, People's Writer Anar Rzayev spoke about the idea of creating the museum, and Minister of Culture Adil Kərimli gave a speech on the role of house museums in preserving cultural memory. At the opening, People's Artist Polad Bülbüloğlu, People's Poet Sabir Rüstəmxanlı, academic Rafael Hüseynov and the secretary of the Azerbaijan Writers' Union Səlim Babullaoğlu talked about the poet’s literary work, contributions to cinema and music, as well as the creation of the symphonic orchestra and its role in the production of new films. At the event, a thank‑you letter from Anar Rzayev’s wife Zemfira Səfərova was read by his granddaughter, and in the artistic segment Samir Cəfərov performed “Sənə də qalmaz”, Ramil Qasımov performed “Qızıl üzük”, while the central piece was the poem “Çinar”.

Exhibition

The museum consists of four exhibition halls. The architectural structure of the space is harmonized with the spirit of the poet’s poem “Pəncərəmi açdım sabaha”. Currently, the museum’s collection preserves 5,026 exhibits.

The exhibition displays personal items, manuscripts, official documents, posters, photographs and other valuable materials reflecting the life and work of Rasul Rza and Nigar Rəfibəyli.