Empress Alexandra Russian Muslim Boarding School for Girls

Empress Alexandra Russian Muslim Boarding School for Girls
General information
Location	Baku, Azerbaijan, Istiglaliyyat Street
Construction started	1901
Completed	1918
Design and construction
Architect	Specialists of “Bakinskiy rabochiy” (Baku worker) machinery plant

The Empress Alexandra Russian Muslim School for Girls (Russian: Александрийское императорское женское русско-мусульманское училище; Azeri: Aleksandra imperator rus-müsəlman qız məktəbi) of Baku (present-day Azerbaijan) was the first secular school for Muslim girls in the Russian Empire. It was built in 1901 sponsored by the Azeri oil baron and philanthropist Zeynalabdin Taghiyev.

Despite what might seem to have been a project worthy of much praise, Zeynalabdin Taghiyev had great difficulty in gaining permission to open the school. He met with vigorous resistance; both from the Imperial Russian authorities and the conservative Muslim clergy. Taghiyev had reportedly asked Emperor Alexander III for permission to establish such institution but his offer was rejected. After Alexander III's death in 1896 the oil baron sent a very expensive gift to the newly crowned Emperor Nicholas II's wife Alexandra Fyodorovna imploring her help. In appreciation, Taghiyev offered to name the school after her, and the permission was thus granted. Local resistance was fierce; families that agreed to have their daughters attend the school were being intimidated, and one of the progressive Islamic clerics who signed up both of his daughters got murdered by the conservatives.

The architectural style of the boarding school was designed by Józef Gosławski in 1896, and the construction began two years later costing 184,000 roubles (all of which was provided by Taghiyev). It ended in 1900 however the school did not open right away. Local Muslim authorities for the most part continued to oppose the establishment of a secular all-girls school and referred to the teachings of Muslim scholars worldwide. In response, Taghiyev sent a mullah to the main places of Islamic worship, namely Mecca, Medina, Karbala, Mashhad, Cairo, Constantinople, and Teheran to meet with the world's most prominent Muslim clergy and have them sign a document in which they confirmed that Islam did not forbid Muslim girls to study secular disciplines. Upon the return of Taghiyev's envoy, the oil baron organized another meeting with Baku's imams presenting them with signatures of the eight world-renowned Islamic scholars whose teachings they were abiding by.

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