BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 4. The solemn presentation of a new collection of carpets ‘Azerbaijan’s carpet – pattern dance’ and a book with the same title took place at the Heydar Aliyev Center, Trend reports.
The project, supported by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, is aimed at preserving and promoting the national-spiritual values and cultural heritage of Azerbaijan.
The event was attended by prominent figures of culture and science, representatives of the creative intelligentsia and youth, organizations, and diplomatic missions.
Carpet weaving is one of the most ancient kinds of arts and crafts of Azerbaijan. The beautiful interweaving of patterns, creative imagination and high craftsmanship – this is what an Azerbaijani carpet is. Carpets and rugs of the Absheron, Ganja, Gazakh, Shirvan, Karabakh, Guba, Nakhchivan, Ardabil and Tabriz schools have been repeatedly praised in many historical books, classical literature.
Azerbaijani carpets earned a well-deserved reputation throughout the world and are kept in the best museums of the US, France, Russia, the UK, Ukraine, Georgia and other countries. The traditional art of Azerbaijani carpet weaving is included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Through the attention of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Vice-President of Azerbaijan, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva, a number of important documents in the development of Azerbaijan’s carpet art have been adopted, and various projects have been implemented.
The implementation of the ‘Azerbaijan’s carpet – pattern dance’ project began in 2016. Six artists and 14 weavers, headed by People's Artist of Azerbaijan Eldar Mikayilzadeh, took part in the creation of a new collection of carpets.
At the opening of the evening, Director of the Heydar Aliyev Center Anar Alakbarov expressed gratitude to the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the Heydar Aliyev Center and the team that participated in the implementation of the project.
"We managed to implement this complex but very significant project. Part of the collection was previously presented at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, and then in Cannes. The project will now be presented for the first time in Baku. I would especially like to note the support of Mehriban Aliyeva in the implementation of the project," Alakbarov said.
People's Artist Eldar Mikayilzadeh also thanked President Ilham Aliyev, First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Heydar Aliyev Center for the high attention to national culture and craftsmen arts.
"The idea of the collection was born in 2014 under the influence of the carpet map of the great master Latif Karimov. I started to collect the necessary material based on ancient architecture, carpet ornaments, and clothing. As a result, the sketch project was presented to the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and was further implemented at the highest level," he said.
Some 170 colors and shades are used in the new collection ‘Azerbaijan’s carpet – pattern dance’. While weaving carpets, the magnificent Palace of Shaki Khans, Shakikhanovs’ Palace, natural patterns, rich flora and fauna, Tekelduz embroidery, and etc. served as an inexhaustible source of inspiration.
Detailed information about the works are included in the book that share the same title with the collection.
