President Ilham Aliyev signed the Decree on the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the professional national theater of Azerbaijan.

APA reports that the Order states:

"2023 marks the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the professional national theater of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani theater was formed at a time when radical changes were taking place against the background of fateful socio-political events of the 19th century, when the great educator Mirza Fatali Akhundzade brought the drama genre to our literature and the folk theater turned into a professional national theater.

During that period, the performances organized by our intellectuals in Baku, Shusha, Sheki, Lankaran, Nakhchivan, Tbilisi and Yerevan played an important role in the cultural life of these cities.

Azerbaijani theater has always been distinguished by its active position and stood at the forefront of public opinion, and had a significant impact on the cultural progress of society and the development of national consciousness.

Prominent representatives of our history of literary thought used the theater stage as a platform to address the people.

At each stage of the development of the history of our dramaturgy, the Azerbaijani theater was marked by its original school of actors, and it produced a generation of artists and talented directors with high stage culture.

In our country, there is a network of theaters that have wide development perspectives for their full activity on the basis of national values.

The collectives of these theaters have successfully benefited from the world experience and continuously updated their repertoires.

Azerbaijani theater is the cultural wealth of our nation.

Protection and development of that wealth is one of the main priorities of the cultural policy of the Azerbaijan state.

With the direct initiative and participation of Great Leader Heydar Aliyev, who created a revolution in relation to our historical and cultural heritage by putting national and moral values ​​in the foreground from the first years of his leadership in our republic, the solemn celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijani theater became a remarkable cultural event and gave a new stimulus to the prosperity of our theater.

According to the Order, the Ministry of Culture should prepare and implement a plan of events related to the 150th anniversary of the professional national theater of Azerbaijan, and the Cabinet of Ministers should resolve the issues arising from this Order.