Photo: Baku Art Weekend
The city of Baku, Azerbaijan, recently finished hosting a festival showcasing its heritage alongside local and international artists. The second annual Fly to Baku. Art Weekend concluded on November 1, 2026, highlighting the city’s culture. This included over 30 of Baku’s museums, galleries, palaces, and cultural institutions. It even featured Old City and UNESCO World Heritage sites like the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, built in the 15th century, and Maiden Tower, constructed during the 12th century. The incredible Zaha Hadid-designed Heydar Aliyev Center served as one of the weekend’s main venues.
Baku transformed during the art weekend, utilizing the city as an open-air stage for art and design. In its second year, the event featured several high-profile creatives. Judy Chicago and Michelangelo Pistoletto were on view, alongside Faig Ahmed, one of Azerbaijan’s most celebrated living artists, known for transforming traditional carpets into surreal installations.
International curators, artists, and collectors flocked to Baku, with the event drawing 10,000 attendees. In addition to the art on view, attendees could interact directly with artists and get creative themselves. The weekend included intimate studio visits, immersive technology installations, music and poetry performances, and walking tours through the 1,000-year-old Old City. Food is also an important and demonstrative part of any culture, and Baku Art Weekend featured exclusive dinners at some of the metropolis’s most acclaimed restaurants.
The city—with its mix of historical and contemporary architecture—hopes to become one of the world’s art capitals by turning Baku Art Weekend into a fair or biennale. “It will be a long journey to get there,” Emin Mammedov, who heads the event, told Conde Nast Traveller. “We think it will be a minimum of five to seven years to see how it [the art weekend] grows. Then we will be able to say yes, Baku is ready to be a place where every country comes to show their own art.”
Get a peek into what Fly to Baku. Art Weekend 2026 had to offer.
The city of Baku, Azerbaijan, recently finished hosting a festival showcasing its heritage alongside local and international artists.
Photo: Baku Art Weekend
The second annual Fly to Baku. Art Weekend concluded on November 1, 2026, highlighting the city’s culture.
Photo: Baku Art Weekend
This included over 30 of Baku’s museums, galleries, palaces, and cultural institutions. It even featured Old City and UNESCO World Heritage sites like the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, built in the 15th century, and Maiden Tower, constructed during the 12th century.
Photo: Baku Art Weekend
Photo: Baku Art Weekend
The incredible Zaha Hadid-designed Heydar Aliyev Center served as one of the weekend’s main venues.
Photo: Baku Art Weekend
Baku transformed during the art weekend, utilizing the city as an open-air stage for art and design.
Photo: Baku Art Weekend
Photo: Baku Art Weekend
Photo: Baku Art Weekend
The weekend included intimate studio visits, immersive technology installations, music and poetry performances, and walking tours through the 1,000-year-old Old City.
Photo: Baku Art Weekend
Photo: Baku Art Weekend
Photo: Baku Art Weekend
Photo: Baku Art Weekend
Photo: Baku Art Weekend
Photo: Baku Art Weekend
Photo: Baku Art Weekend
Artist Chris Levine was a VIP guest in attendance and took incredible photos of the architecture. He added his signature lights.
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