Many people still remember the “Baku Secrets” TV documentary series broadcasted by the Public Television a few years ago. The long-awaited TV program was presented by the researcher of the history of Baku Fuad Akhundov.
 
A graduate of the Faculty of Oriental Studies of Baku State University and Harvard, Master of the University of Toronto, Fuad Akhundov has been interested in history and architecture of Baku since his student years. Fuad Akhundov has restored the memory about many worthy personalities whose names were forgotten during the Soviet years and rediscovered the long-closed pages of our city’s history.
 
Fuad Akhundov became a guest of the Baku Book Center on September 27. The event took place as part of the "Facing history" project. 
 
In his lecture on the theme “Ethno-cultural diversity of pre-revolutionary Baku”, Fuad Akhundov presented the interesting insight into the history of Azerbaijani capital during the period of the first oil boom.
 
Speaking about the ethnic structure of Baku at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, Fuad Akhundov noted that during the period of the oil boom in Baku, an unprecedented rate of population growth was observed, and the largest communities were Azerbaijani and Russian.
 
Fuad Akhundov also talked about outstanding representatives of Jewish, Polish, German, Tatar, Lezghin, Ossetian and other communities of the then Baku.
 
He described the medical activities of representative of Baku’s Jewish community, pediatrician E.Y.Hindes, whose name was given to the Children’s Tuberculosis sanatorium in Zagulba, about another prominent representative of the Jewish community - Stanislav Despot-Zenovich, the mayor, who led Baku from 1875 to 1891, the years when population of Baku grew several times, about Pavel Pototski, representative of Polish community and pioneer of offshore oil production in Azerbaijan. 
 
The speaker also spoke about representatives of Tatar community of Baku, notably women, who made great contribution to the development of education in Azerbaijan, the plight of the representative of the Greek community of Baku, actress Panfilia Tanailidi, known under the pseudonym of Sureya Zangezurly, who played more than 50 roles on the stage of the Azerbaijan Drama Theater and became a victim of Stalin's purges and repressions.
 
The fascinating lecture was accompanied by a photo slide show reflecting the history of Baku in the late XIX - early XX century.
 
In conclusion of the event, Fuad Akhundov highly valued the conditions in the BBC and expressed gratitude to the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Baku Book Center for the organization of the event. “I am confident that the Baku Book Center will become the place where the spirit of Baku will be revived,” he said.