The Ismailiyya building serves as the Presidium

Presidium

The presidium or praesidium is the name for the heading organ of various legislative and organizational bodies.-Historical usage:...

 of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences

Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences , located in Baku, is the main state research organization in Azerbaijan...

. It is located on Istiglaliyyat Street

Istiglaliyyat Street

Istiglaliyyat Street is an arterial road in central uptown part of Baku, Azerbaijan. It begins at Gulustan Palace located on the southern hillside part of Baku continues north, then northeast, terminating at intersection of Aziz Aliyev and Mammad Amin Rasulzade streets at the edge of the...

 in Baku

Baku

Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...

.

The building was constructed for the Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 Charity Society by Iosif Ploshko at the expense of the millionaire Musa Naghiyev. for his deceased son Ismayil’s commemoration, and was named after him (Ismailiyya).
Construction began in 1908 and ended in 1913. The building was constructed in the gothic style

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 of Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

. The following sentences are carved with golden letters on the front and side facades of the building to indicate that this building is intended for the Muslim Charity Society:
After the opening ceremony, conferences of Muslim Charity Society members, meetings of Muslim women and Baku intelligentsia, and congresses of clergy were held in the building's white stone assembly hall. The hall's windows open onto Nikolayevskaya street

Istiglaliyyat Street

Istiglaliyyat Street is an arterial road in central uptown part of Baku, Azerbaijan. It begins at Gulustan Palace located on the southern hillside part of Baku continues north, then northeast, terminating at intersection of Aziz Aliyev and Mammad Amin Rasulzade streets at the edge of the...

. In March of 1918 the building suffered damage from fire and warfare.
In 1923, under the guidance of the architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 Dubov, the building was reconstructed and the sentences on the front and side facades were removed. After the reconstruction of “Ismailiyya”, different organizations and agencies were located in it: “Society of Inspection and Study of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

”, “Archeological

Archaeology

Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

 Commission”, “Society of Turkish Culture

Culture of Turkey

The culture of Turkey combines a largely diverse and heterogeneous set of elements that are derived from the Ottoman, European, Middle Eastern and Central Asian traditions...

”, “Fund of Manuscript

Manuscript

A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...

s”, Republican branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

and others. At present, the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences is located there.