State Museum of
Ashug Art

Project Overview

In March 2020, President Ilham Aliyev inaugurated the Azerbaijan State Museum of Ashug Art in Tovuz, a permanent home for one of the country's most cherished living traditions. Ashug art, the centuries-old practice of the travelling bard who performs epic tales to the sound of the saz, is inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

ADZONE 360 designed and delivered the museum's exhibition, turning a collection of photographs, instruments, artworks and oral history into a space visitors can walk through, hear and explore. The result pairs a traditional subject with a modern, immersive way to experience it.

Scope of Work

ADZONE 360 handled the full exhibition delivery, end to end: spatial and creative concept, exhibition design, fabrication and fit-out, large-format graphic panels and wall murals, display systems for the instruments and artefacts, and the museum's branded identity throughout. We also brought the collection to life digitally, with interactive touchscreens, wall projections and audio stations, so visitors can hear the instruments, watch the rhythms and epics animate, and trace the geography of the ashug schools.

Museum Experience

The galleries move through the regional ashug environments, Göyçə, Qarabağ, Marneuli and others, each given its own zone of portraits, instruments and story. A deep museum-blue runs through the space as a unifying thread, set against carpet motifs and heritage textiles that root the design in Azerbaijani craft. Interactive screens let visitors browse the history and sound of the saz and balaban, while projections bring ashug performance and epic tales onto the walls, so a primarily oral art becomes something you can see and hear in the room.