Zaha Hadid's masterpiece, the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku is a must-see modern architectural wonder in Azerbaijan. You simply cannot miss this building, which looks like cartoon mountains covered in snow.

Designed by the Iraqi-born British architect Zaha Hadid, this masterpiece is full of flowing curves, wonky shapes and futuristic windows, which fill a 619,000 square-foot space named after the former president of Azerbaijan.

Set on the western coast of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan has been an independent country since 1991. Modernist buildings from the Soviet era can still be seen throughout the capital though.

The Heydar Aliyev Center offers a breath of fresh air in terms of visual harmony and building finished in 2012 following a 5-year construction period. The Center represents a fluid form which emerges by the folding of the landscape’s natural topography and by the wrapping of functions of the Center.

All functions of the Center, together with entrances, are represented by folds in a single continuous surface. This fluid form gives an opportunity to connect the various cultural spaces whilst at the same time, providing each element of the Center with its own identity and privacy. As it folds inside, the skin erodes away to become an element of the interior landscape of the Center.