You can tell a lot about an emerging nation from where it invests its money. Ornate palaces for its oligarchs? Intimidating military fortifications? Elaborate temples to its gods? In the case of Azerbaijan, newly independent and possessed of enormous oil wealth, the answer is the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center in Baku. Its eye-popping design by Zaha Hadid resembles rippling sand rising from the earth. The center will house a museum, a library and concert halls that will display, perform, and celebrate indigenous Azerbaijan culture. In choosing an avant-garde cultural center as a means to express itself, Azerbaijan has already told the world that, as a nation, it values art, history, culture, and above all human creativity. Not bad for a country that, in human years, is still in college.
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