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Jane Sweeney

A bronze lion stands on each side of the pavilion stairs on the Golden River’s north bank.

There are no straight lines in Baku, Azerbaijan’s Heydar Aliyev Center. The undulating, curvy structure by the celebrated late architect Zahia Hadid shelters a museum on the country’s history and culture.

Ani's cathedral was completed in A.D. 1001 by Trdat the Architect (who also reconstructed the damaged dome of the Hagia Sophia cathedral in Constantinople). Its ribbed vaulting would not be seen in European cathedrals until at least two centuries later. During Ani’s sacking by the Seljuks in 1064, it was converted into a mosque; but returned to Christian usage in 1124. Its dome was destroyed in the earthquake of 1319.

The Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku, Azerbaijan, was designed by the Iraqi-British architect, Zaha Hadid. It opened in 2012 and consequently, in 2014, Hadid was awarded Design of the Year by London’s Design Museum. The fluid, ice-cream-swirl-like design doesn’t have a single straight line. It houses a museum, nine floors of exhibition halls, and an auditorium. The museum is dedicated to preserving Azerbaijan’s history, and the life and work of Heydar Aliyev, the nation’s former president. Covering three floors, the museum gives patrons an interactive, in-depth view of the region’s heritage.

Plummeting over 130 feet (40 metres), secluded El Limón is one of the highest falls in the region.