The Museum Centre opened in 1961 as the Baku branch of the Moscow Lenin Museum and functioned as a major centre for researching and promoting Leninism in Azerbaijan during the Soviet era. Today the four floors of this monumental structure, which was designed by famous Azerbaijani architect Hasan Majidov and sits opposite the Baku Boulevard, house several small museums dedicated to music, theatre, religion and independence, as well as an art gallery with regularly changing exhibitions. The building itself is one of the most iconic of the Soviet era.