From Baku with love

The capital of Azerbaijan, which has a population of more than two million people, and has acted as a body double for places as diverse as Buenos Aires, Tehran and Istanbul on the big screen
Photograph: Gueorgui Pinkhassov/Magnum

From impressive Art Nouveau architecture to leisurely suburbs, the city is full of different rhythms
Photograph: Gueorgui Pinkhassov/Magnum

Young men play football on a Baku roof
Photograph: Gueorgui Pinkhassov/Magnum

Mosques, synagogues, Catholic and Orthodox churches sit cheek by jowl in the old town, which in 2000 became a Unesco World Heritage Site
Photograph: Gueorgui Pinkhassov/Magnum

In his Baku photographs, Pinkhassov (born in Moscow in 1952 and a collaborator of Andrei Tarkovsky's before moving to Paris in 1985), focuses on how particular kinds of light contribute to the city's distinct atmosphere
Photograph: Gueorgui Pinkhassov/Magnum

Azerbaijani culture looks to the east and west alike
Photograph: Gueorgui Pinkhassov/Magnum

Statues loom over visitors to the National Museum of Azerbaijan Literature
Photograph: Gueorgui Pinkhassov/Magnum

Azerbaijan's National Palace of Culture is an impressive sight by night
Photograph: Gueorgui Pinkhassov/Magnum

Locals sit by one of Baku's fountains
Photograph: Gueorgui Pinkhassov/Magnum

Baku port is limited in its ultimate scope because of its location on the landlocked Caspian Sea
Photograph: Gueorgui Pinkhassov/Magnum

"Pinkhassov perfectly captures the essence of the city, one with all the delights of the orient and yet an oriental capital with western charm," says Leila Alieva, editor of Baku Magazine, which commissioned the photographs.

• The exhibition Baku with Love by Gueorgui Pinkhassov will be shown at Mall Galleries from Sunday 14 - Friday 19 February, 10am-5pm
Photograph: Gueorgui Pinkhassov/Magnum