Carpet Museum focuses on accessibility and inclusion

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijan Carpet Museum has presented stunning carpets woven within Shakespeare Carpets and Competition access and inclusion training programme. 

The projects were jointly organized by the Azerbaijan Culture Ministry, National Carpet Museum and British Council Azerbaijan. 

Welcoming the guests, Director of the National Carpet Museum Shirin Malikova said that one of the most important issues for any museum in modern times is the availability of information about the collections of national heritage, the creation of an inclusive environment.

The Carpet Museum director stressed that access and inclusion training for museum specialists is an important project in this direction.  

Speaking at the ceremony, Culture Minister Anar Karimov noted that Azerbaijan and the United Kingdom have been cooperating in many fields for many years. He stressed that the Culture Ministry and the British Council Azerbaijan are successfully cooperating in many projects, including the access and inclusion training for museum specialists. 

Anar Karimov said that Azerbaijan has made significant historical achievements in building a modern state and a prosperous society.

"Education and culture in our country The field is ranked first in terms of inclusion. Involvement of people with disabilities in cultural industries is one of the priority issues. In these matters, we will continue to benefit from the experience of the British Council. Many inclusive projects have been successfully implemented in Azerbaijani museums based on world practice, so that people with disabilities can move freely and get information about the museum exhibits," Karimov said.

The Culture Minister expressed his gratitude to the British Council Azerbaijan, the Carpet Museum and the Azerbaijan Academy of Arts for donating carpets based on the sketches of the winners of the Shakespeare Carpets Competition dedicated to the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare in 2016 to the Carpet Museum. He described it as an event that contributed to the further development of cultural cooperation between the two countries.

During his speech, the British Ambassador to Baku James Sharp said that cooperation is important in the preservation and promotion of culture. He pointed out that the British Embassy regularly supports cultural projects in Azerbaijan through the British Council.

In his speech, head of British Council Azerbaijan Samr Shah noted that the main mission of the organization is to bring people together. He said that one of the main directions of this activity is to pay attention to people with disabilities and promote cultural heritage.

After the speeches, certificates were presented to a limited number of participants in the online training.

Three carpets woven on the basis of sketches of the winners of the "Shakespeare on carpets" competition were presented to the National Carpet Museum by Samr Shah.

Participants of the event viewed the carpets purchased by the Ministry of Culture from the Sartirano Fair in Italy in 2020 and presented to the National Carpet Museum. 

At the end, the guests got acquainted with the exhibition of People's Artist Arif Huseynov "Novruz patterns".