Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum

Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum
General information
Name	Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum
Original name	AZƏRBAYCAN MİLLİ XALÇA MUZEYİ
Location	Baku c., Mikayıl Useynov av., 28, AZ1000
Founded	1967
Founder	Latif Karimov
Architect	Franz Janz
Collections	Flat-woven carpets, Pile carpets, Carpet products
Website	http://azcarpetmuseum.az/front/
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Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum (AZƏRBAYCAN MİLLİ XALÇA MUZEYİ), founded in 1967, in Baku, is the first Azerbaijani museum dedicated to the art of carpet weaving. This museum was established to store, research, and demonstrate unique examples of the carpet weaving art, as well as applied artworks. The museum contains the largest collection of Azerbaijan carpets in the world in terms of different weaving techniques and different materials.

History

Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum was established in accordance with the decree No. 130 of the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR dated March 13, 1967. From 1967 to 1993, the museum was called the Azerbaijan State Museum of Carpet and Folk Applied Arts, from 1993 to 2014 – State Museum of Carpet and Applied Arts named after Latif Karimov, from 2014 to 2019 – Azerbaijan Carpet Museum, and from 2019 to the present – Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum.
At the time of establishing, it was the only museum that was dedicated to the art of carpet weaving. The main purpose of the museum’s creation was to store, research, and demonstrate unique examples of the carpet weaving art, which are Azerbaijan’s national heritage. The initiator of the museum was Latif Karimov, the outstanding scientist and carpet weaver, founder of the science of Azerbaijan Carpet Art, artist and teacher, author of the fundamental work Azerbaijani Carpet.
The first permanent exhibition was presented on April 26, 1972, in the building of the Juma Mosque, an architectural monument of the 19th century, located in Icherisheher (Old City). The national leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev, who provided great support to the museum from the first days of its establishment, took part at the opening ceremony. In 1970–1980s, with the constant help of the country’s leadership in the person of Heydar Aliyev, Museum had regular opportunities to purchase crafts and thereby replenish its collections. In those years, masterpieces of Azerbaijani Carpet Weaving Art were purchased for the museum.
In 1992, the State Museum of Carpet and Applied Arts was moved to the Museum Center (former Lenin Museum), located at the Neftchilar Avenue. In 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to the presidential decree, the building was given to the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan and renamed to Museum Center. The museum exhibition, representing the carpet samples from different regions of Azerbaijan, as well as works of other kinds of applied arts, was located in thirteen spacious rooms on the second floor.
In 2007, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a decree for the creation of a new building for the museum in the territory of Seaside National Park within the framework of a joint project of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, and UNESCO. In 2014, under the direction of Austrian architect Franz Janz, the museum building, which meets all modern requirements, was completed. Over the years, the museum is continuously developed and has become one of the main storage of samples of the Azerbaijan national culture.
Throughout its fifty years, the museum was led by several directors. From 1967 to 1982, it was led by Aziz Aliyev, Honored Art Worker; from 1982 to January 5, 2016 – by Professor Roya Tagiyeva, Honored Cultural Worker, Doctor in Arts. Since March 2, 2016, the museum has been headed by Dr. Shirin Melikova, Honored Cultural Worker.
The museum has become a research, training, cultural and educational center where many events, such as exhibitions, international symposiums, and conferences, are held. During its fifty years of existence, the museum has organized more than thirty exhibitions in different countries throughout the world. In 1983, on the initiative of Heydar Aliyev and the organizational support of UNESCO, the international symposium Art of Oriental Carpets was held in the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum. Later, international symposiums such as Azerbaijan Carpet Weaving Art (1988), and Azerbaijan Carpet and Applied Arts (2003) were held within the participation of the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum. Additionally, in 2007, a symposium dedicated to Latif Karimov’s centenary was held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
The museum cooperates closely with influential international organizations, such as the European Textile Network (ETN), the European Museum Forum (EMF), the International Council of Museums (ICOM), UNESCO, and the Council for Humanitarian Cooperation of the Member States of the CIS (IFESCO).
In 2004, a law On the Preservation and Development of Azerbaijani Carpet was prepared and adopted within the museum’s participation. This law was aimed to implement the registration of Azerbaijani carpets, protect and support their development, and coordinate scientific and methodical training.
In 2010, the Traditional Azerbaijan Carpet Weaving Art was included within the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on the initiative of Mehriban Aliyeva, First Vice-President of Azerbaijan, President of Heydar Aliyev Foundation, member of Milli Majlis (National Parliament of the Republic of Azerbaijan), and Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO and ISESCO.
Azerbaijan Carpet Museum in accordance with the decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated July 15, 2019, received the National status for its significant contribution in popularization and promotion of the Azerbaijani Carpet Weaving Art.
Today, Azerbaijan Carpet Museum, which is located in one of the country’s most modern buildings, not only stores a rich collection of artifacts and carpets (our nation’s most valuable heritage), but also operates as the site for the comprehensive research of traditional carpet weaving art and its popularization within the world culture.^[1]

Collection

In acquisition of collections and the further development of Azerbaijan Carpet Museum was attended by outstanding scientists of the country: academicians Rasim Efendiyev and Teymur Bunyadov, Honored Artist and the first director of the museum Aziz Aliyev, Doctors of Art History, professors Roya Taghiyeva and Kubra Aliyeva, Doctor of Historical Sciences Hasan Guliyev, Candidate of Art History Najiba Abdullayeva.
As a result, numerous research expeditions in different regions of Azerbaijan were enriched museum funds by items of material culture of the country. Here, were collected the Azerbaijani carpets, carpet items, and other kinds of crafts. The museum vault houses 10,139 exhibits and includes seven collections: “Pile Carpets”; “Flat-woven carpets”; “Carpet Products”; “Artistic metalwork”; “Ceramics, glass, wood, paper”; “Textile, costume, embroidery”; and “Jewelry”. The museum stores curiosities related to the Bronze Age, the Ancient Period, and the early Middle Ages, while the greater part of the collection dates back to the 17th to 20th centuries.^[2]

Flat-woven carpets

There are 657 objects in the “Flat-woven carpets” collection. It features such products as palas, chiyi-palas, kilim, gadirga, jejim, shadda, ladi, varni, zili, and sumakh. The collection mainly covers the 18th-20th centuries.
Flat-woven carpets differ from each other through their weaving techniques, compositional structure, ornamentation, and color schemes. Palas and jejim, the compositions of which characterized by colored stripes of different widths, are woven with the simple interweaving technique. Kilim, decorated with a variety of geometric patterns, consisting of four- and six-pointed shapes, with medallion “kilimgulu” and so on, is woven with complex interweaving techniques. Flat-woven carpets like varni, shadda, zili and sumakh are woven by wrapping of third weft around warp, which gives the ability to create complex patterns: stylized dragon in the shape of letter S or Z, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic motifs, plant ornaments, composition “Khatai”, etc.
Flat-woven carpets were common in everyday life, and were used for such things as flooring, covering of alachig (tent), curtains, clothes, tablecloths and etc. But by producing of these essentials were fully showed genius of people, the originality of their thoughts.

Pile carpets

The “Pile carpets” collection, which is the main component of the museum’s foundation, has 2323 exhibits dating from the 17th century to the early 20th century, and from the modern period. It presents the four types of carpet weaving in Azerbaijan: Guba-Shirvan, Ganja-Gazakh, Karabakh, and Tabriz.
Carpets were widely used in the daily life of people. Azerbaijan carpets are distinguished with a vast variety of decorative compositions that number over 600 designs. The museum collection also stores carpets produced by Azerkhalcha OJSC. It was founded in 1927 and continues the ancient traditions of carpet art.
Professional modern artists have played a major role in the development of carpet art. Among them is the master and scientist Latif Karimov, whose sketches Lachakturunj, Bahar (“Spring”), Heyvanlar alami (“World of animals”), Shabi-Hijran (“Night of separation”), and Safiaddin Urmavi were translated into woven carpets. The museum also presents the works of Kamil Aliyev – Nizami, Nasimi, Heydar Aliyev, Eldar Mikayilzadeh – Shabi-Hijran and Nagillar alami (“World of fairytales”); Jafar Mudjiri – Saib Tabrizi and others.
The oldest exhibit is the 17th century carpet Ajdahali (“The Dragon”), an example of the Karabakh type. The carpet was bequeathed to the museum by the American collector Grover Schiltz and was donated by his wife Beverly Schiltz in 2013.

Carpet products

The “Carpet products” collection consists of 1663 items from the 19th and 20th centuries. Lightweight and comfortable carpet products were an integral part of cattle-breeding life. Everything had a utilitarian purpose. Therefore, chuval (a big carpet bag) was used to storage and transport of grain, while gashigdan (a carpet bag) hold spoons and rolling pins. The treasury also stores various carpet items, without which it is impossible to imagine the life of our ancestors: heyba (small valise); khurjun (valise consisting of two parts); gashlig (small valise attached to a saddle); mafrash (rectangular carpet valise for the storage and transport of bedding and clothing); sijim (a thick rope for banding load); orkan (a narrow rope for fixing load); balishuzu (pillowcase); sufra (tablecloth); duz torbasi (bag for salt); jorab (woolen socks); jahaz (headdress for a camel); yaharustu (rug used on a saddle); chatan (mat); kecha (felt); lama gabaghi (patterned curtain that separates the living room from the kitchen in alachig (a tent)); and asmalig (decoration for a camel).