Karabakh carpet
The Karabakh carpet (
History
Carpet-weaving was historically a traditional profession for the female population of Karabakh, including many
Carpet-weaving in Karabakh especially developed in the second half of the nineteenth century, when the population of many areas in Karabakh was engaged in carpet-weaving, mainly for commercial sale purposes. At this time Shusha became the center of Karabakh carpet-weaving.[4]
Types
Armenian
Starting to develop in Armenia and Artsakh as a part of everyday life, carpet weaving was a must in every
That the art of carpet weaving was intimately tied to the making of curtains is indicated in a passage by Kirakos Gandzaketsi, a thirteenth-century Armenian historian from Artsakh, who praised Arzu-Khatun, the wife of regional prince Vakhtang Khachenatsi, and her daughters for their dexterous skills in weaving.[9] Artsakh carpets were also renowned by foreigners who traveled to Artsakh; the Arab geographer and historian Al-Masudi noted that, among other works of art, he had never seen such carpets elsewhere in his life.[10]
"The complex history of Armenian weaving and needlework was acted out in the Near East, a vast, ancient, and ethnically diverse region. Few are the people who, like the Armenians, can boast of a continuous and consistent record of fine textile production from the 1st millennium BC to the present. Armenians today are blessed by the diversity and richness of a textile heritage passed on by thirty centuries of diligent practice; yet they are burdened by the pressure to keep alive a tradition nearly destroyed in the Armenian genocide of 1915, and subverted by a technology that condemns handmade fabrics to museums and lets machines produce perfect, but lifeless cloth".[11]
Azerbaijan
The Karabakh carpet school—also rendered as Qarabagh carpet—developed in two areas: in lowland and mountainous parts of Karabakh. The last one often and the most renowned one is often called "the Shusha carpet group". Besides Shusha, the surrounding villages of Dashbulag, Dovshanly, Girov, Terniviz, Malibayli, Chanakcha, Tun, Tuglar, Hadrut, Muradkhanly, Gasimushagi, Gubately, Gozag, Mirseid, Bagirbeyli, Khanlig, Tutmas were also known for their rugs. Each village developed original design and ornaments and had specific characterization which distinguished them from one village to another. In the lowlands carpet manufacturing was based in Jabrayil, Horadiz, Barda and Agdam (most notably, Lambaran village).[12]
Carpet-weaving in Karabakh especially developed beginning from the second half of the 19th century, when the population of many areas in Karabakh was engaged in carpet-weaving, mainly for commercial sale. At this time Shusha became the center of the Karabakh carpet-weaving. Karabakh and Shusha carpets have influenced the Nakhchivan and Zangezur schools of carpets. Some experts actually consider these schools to be sub-categories of the Karabakh carpet school. Shusha's carpet-weavers, Meshedi Bayram Gurban-oglu, Djabbar Haji Akber-oglu, Fatima Aga Sherif-gizi, Ahmed Dashdamir-oglu participated and were awarded prizes in an international show in Paris in 1867. Shusha carpets also received awards in 1872 in Moscow Polytechnic Exhibition.[13]
Azerbaijan for roughly three decades, has been particularly eager to exploit their connections to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), with a generous donation of $5 million, to present Azerbaijan as a major hub of the art form. Azerbaijan successfully lobbied to inscribe the traditional art of Azerbaijani carpet weaving on the representative list of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.[14][15] Thus since 2010 the Azerbaijani-style carpet making is part of UNESCO's Masterpieces of Intangible Heritage.[16]
See also
Notes
- ^ "Karabagh rug". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
- ISBN 5-8079-0195-9.
- ^ a b c d Hakobyan. Medieval Art of Artsakh, p. 84.
- ISBN 5-8079-0195-9.
- ^ "Armenians. The End of the 19th - Beginning of the 20th century" at Russian Ethnographic Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia Archived December 24, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 9780937437049.
- ^ "Armenians. The End of the 19th - Beginning of the 20th century" at Russian Ethnographic Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia Archived December 24, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ David Tsitsishvili "Rugs and Carpets from the Caucasus", "Avrora", Leningrad, 1984 № 672(7-20); p.p. 7-8(total pages: 151)
- ^ (in Armenian) Kirakos Gandzaketsi. "Patmut'yun Hayots'," [History of the Armenians]. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1961, p. 216, as cited in Hakobyan. Medieval Art of Artsakh, p. 84, note 18.
- Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1986, p. 212.
- ^ "Armenia Textiles: An Overview". Archived from the original on 2010-01-25. Retrieved 2010-02-24. Dickran Kouymjian, "Armenia Textiles: An Overview", The catalogue of an exhibition entitled "Trames de memoire d'Armenie: broderies et tapis sur les chemins de l'exil de 1900-1940" on Armenian refugees in the textile industry in southern France after the 1915 genocide to be held at the Museon Arlaten in Arles, France from June through December 2007 as part of the Year of Armenia in France
- ISBN 9780140063707. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
- ^ "-= Azerbaijan Carpet Museum =-". Archived from the original on 2015-04-08. Retrieved 2015-04-29.
- ^ "A War Over Patterns, Symbols, and the Cultural Heritage of Karabakh's Carpets". hyperallergic.com. 28 February 2021.
- ^ "UNESCO's Corrupt Former Director General Irina Bokova To Speak At AIEA's 'Internationalization' Conference". thebluntpost.com. 10 February 2021.
- ^ "Traditional art of Azerbaijani carpet weaving in the Republic of Azerbaijan - intangible heritage - Culture Sector". UNESCO. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
Further reading
- Mozaffari, Ali; Barry, James (2022). "Heritage and territorial disputes in the Armenia–Azerbaijan conflict: a comparative analysis of the carpet museums of Baku and Shusha". International Journal of Heritage Studies. 28 (3): 318–340. S2CID 240207752.
