Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (on the left) in Baku

Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Polish: Kościół Niepokalanego Poczęcia Najświętszej Maryji Panny; Russian: Костёл Непорочного Зачатия Пресвятой Девы Марии; Azeri: Müqəddəs Duxtəri-Məryəmin Bakirə Hamiləliyi şərəfinə kilsə) was a Roman Catholic church in Baku, Azerbaijan from 1915 to 1931, when it was ordered destroyed by the Soviet government.

Baku's Catholic community was recognized as a separate parish in 1882, thus seceding from the Tetritsq'aro Catholic parish.^[1] The fifty-meter high church was built as a place of worship primarily for Polish residents of Baku (then part of the Russian Empire) who had initially held their masses in parochial houses and had sought legal permission for the construction of a Catholic church.^[2] Even though the permission was given in 1894, due to money shortage, it was not until 1909 that the construction of the church started. The only financial source were donations from the congregation, which consisted mostly of middle- and low-income families.

Civil engineer Józef Płoszko and general contractor Haji Gasimov were in charge of the project. The church was built in the Neo Gothic architectural style.^[2]

As a result of the Soviet Union's secularist policies, in 1931 the Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was destroyed. In 1937, its only senior priest Stefan Demurov (a Georgian Catholic) was sent to a labour camp, where he died a year later. The site is now occupied by the Shahriyar Club (earlier known as the Dzierżyński Club).^[2]

In 1997, the Catholic community was restarted. After Pope John Paul II's visit to Azerbaijan in 2002, it was granted land to build a new church.^[3]