JOZEF PLOSHKO – THE MAN WHO GAVE LIFE TO STONES

Józef Ploshko – is a Polish architect of the late XIX and early XX centuries, author of multiple architectural projects in Baku.

Biography

Józef Ploshko was born in 1867. He studied at the Russian Imperial Academy of Arts, but soon left it and joined the Petersburg University of Civil Engineers. After graduation in 1895, Ploshko was sent to Kiev. Working there for two years, he moved to Baku at the invitation of another Polish architect Jozef Goslawski and took place of local architect at construction department of the Baku city administration. He later became the chief architect of Baku.

Life in Baku

Ploshko was close architect of millionaire Musa Naghiyev, but Murtuza Mukhtarov, Nuri Amiraslanov, the Rylskis – a rich Polish family and others also were among his clients. In 1907, Agha Musa Naghiyev purchased an area in the center of the city, on Nikolayevskaya (at present Istiglaliyyat Street) Street and ordered architect Ploshko to build a public-charity building in memory of his earlier died son. It was the first independent work of Ploshko in Baku – a monumental “Ismailiyya” building built upon the pattern of the Doge’s palace in Venice. This building immediately became one of the main architectural buildings of the city. Now there is a presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan in “Ismailiyya”.