Carpet Museum hosts series of events within Year of Heydar Aliyev

The exhibition "Chronicle of History" immediately grabbed the attention of art enthusiasts, Azernews reports.

Deputy Culture Minister, People's Artist Murad Huseynov, General Secretary of the Azerbaijan National Commission for UNESCO Seymur Fataliyev and coordinator of the Baku Yunus Emre Institute Selchuk Karakilich took part in the opening ceremony.

Chronicle of History exhibition

Director of the Carpet Museum Shirin Malikova is the author of the carpet idea, displayed as part of the exhibition, which marks the centenary of the National Leader Heydar Aliyev, whose quote "I have been always proud and I am proud today of being an Azerbaijani" is the leitmotif of this craft sample, woven in the museum's Traditional Technologies Department.

The artistic structure of the carpet symbolically reflects the great attention and care paid by the genius personality to the Azerbaijani culture, national heritage, and especially the carpet art throughout different periods while Heydar Aliyev was in office. The tree, which is the main element of this unique artwork, is presented as a symbol of our roots and lineage.

The carpet "Chronicle of History" is based on the sketch of Honored Artist, Taryer Bashirov. The art work is created using woolen and silk threads of 100 shades.

The exhibition also featured a video projection in order to demonstrate the images and ornaments of carpet`s rich composition. The viewers enjoyed the animation video of Gobustan Rock Art, hunting scenes, Yalli dance, Dede Korkut, national hero Koroghlu, Azerbaijani tricolor flag, samani, the main attribute of Novruz Holiday, buta, the main symbol of fire, saint tree, quotes from the outstanding philosopher Nizami Ganjavi’s poem and a statement by a genius leader Heydar Aliyev.

Also, a documentary film titled “Our National Heritage” dedicated to the 100th anniversary of National Leader Heydar Aliyev was presented as part of the exhibition.

The documentary, reflecting Heydar Aliyev’s great attention and care for every field in Azerbaijan, including culture, art, as well as Azerbaijani carpet art is created with the use of rare video footage and photo chronicles from different sources. The film featured videos about outstanding carpet artists Latif Karimov Kamil Aliyev, and the First International Symposium on Eastern Carpet Art, held in Baku in 1983.

The author of the documentary idea is Honored Cultural Worker Shirin Malikova. The documentary was filmed by Mubariz Naghiyev.

Intercultural Dialogue and Ethnic Identity Conference The National Carpet Museum has hosted an international scientific conference themed Intercultural Dialogue and Ethnic Identity.

Shirin Malikova welcomed the participants and guests of the conference. She emphasized that one of the main directions of the multifaceted activities of the outstanding statesman Heydar Aliyev was the preservation of ethnic identity, the establishment of cultural dialogue between peoples, countries and other important issues.

In her speech, she outlined that this conference held in 2023 as part of the Heydar Aliyev Year included reports analyzing the topics from different contexts.

Analyst of the Baku International Center for Multiculturalism Araz Gurbanov stressed the importance of the topic covered by the conference. The conference went in sessions.

Executive director of the Institute of Archaeology, Ethnography and Anthropology Zaur Hasanov, the Carpet Museum Director Shirin Malikova, curator of the Department of Non-European Cultures at the Ethnographic Museum in Krakow Anna Szelingowska, chief curator of the Georgian National Museum Irina Koshoridze, researching professor at the Silk Road and Central Asian Institute at Keimyung University Lee Jae Jung, director of the Museum of Turkic and Islamic Arts Ekrem Aytar, art historian in Turkey and independent curator at SOACArt Sumiyo Okumura, Head of the Brukenthal Art Museum at the Brukenthal National Museum in Sibiu Alexandru Gh Sonoc, Director General of the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest Lajos Kemecsi, Dean of the Faculty of Tourism of the Kazakh Academy of Sports and Tourism Aigul Ageleuova and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of SAN'AT (ART) magazine of the Uzbek Academy of Arts Binafsha Nodir, delivered reports that aroused great interest.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the National Carpet Museum and the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest.

Igor Malkiel, Head of the Laboratory for the Scientific Restoration of Precious and Archaeological Metals of the Hermitage, who took part in the event, was presented with tactile replicas of Pazirik carpet’s fragments, woven in the Traditional Technology Department.

Shirin Malikova noted that those carpets were a gift to the Hermitage in accordance with the concept of the inclusive exhibition Invisible Art: Expanding the Boundaries of What Is Possible, held in the Hermitage in 2021.

Deputy Chairman of the Council of Elders of Azerbaijan, former Commissioner for Human Rights of the Republic of Azerbaijan (former Ombudsman), Professor Elmira Suleymanova was invited to take part in the conference as an honored guest.

She spoke about the activities of National Leader Heydar Aliyev based on wise policy as a great statesman and said that the conference was of great importance.

The conference was co-organized by the Culture Ministry and the National Carpet Museum with the support of the Azerbaijan National Commission for UNESCO and the Baku Yunus Emre Institute.