Azerbaijani carpet weaving

Azerbaijani carpet weaving (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan xalça toxuculuğu) is a historical and traditional activity of the Azerbaijani people. The Azerbaijani carpet is a traditional handmade textile of various sizes, with dense texture and a pile or pile-less surface, whose patterns are characteristic of Azerbaijan’s many carpet-making regions. Carpet making is a family tradition transferred orally and through practice.[1]

Traditional art of Azerbaijani carpet weaving in the Republic of Azerbaijan
Carpet-weaving Azeri girl from Karabakh
CountryAzerbaijan
Reference389
RegionEurope and North America
Inscription history
Inscription2010 (5th session)

In 2010 art of Azerbaijani carpet weaving in Azerbaijan was added to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.[2]

Weaving

Men shear sheep in spring and autumn, while women collect dyestuffs and spin and dye yarn in the spring, summer and autumn. The weaving is undertaken during winter by the female members of the extended family, girls learning from their mothers and grandmothers and wives assisting their mothers-in-law. The carpet is made on horizontal or vertical looms using multi-coloured wool, cotton or silk yarn coloured with natural dyes. Applying special techniques to create pile carpets, weavers knot the pile yarn around threads of the warp; pile-less carpets are variously made with interlacing structural warps, wefts, and patterning wefts. The cutting of a finished carpet from the loom is an unusually solemn celebration.

Carpet weaving and community

Carpet weaving is closely connected with the daily life and customs of the communities involved, its role reflected in the meaning of the designs and their applications. Thus, girls seated on carpets tell fortunes and sing traditional songs at Novruz (the regional New Year). The carpet is widely used for home furniture and decoration, and special carpets are woven for medical treatment, for wedding ceremonies, the birth of a child, mourning rituals and prayer.

Azerbaijan Carpet Museum

Taking into account its socio-economic importance, Azerbaijani folk applied art, particularly carpet weaving has been the subject to the special attention of the government to preserve, study, promote and develop carpet weaving traditions of Azerbaijani people after regaining independence. The Law “On the protection and development of carpet art of Azerbaijan” was adopted by the President Ilham Aliyev in December 2004,[3] "Azerkhalcha" OJSC (Azerbaijani: “Azərxalça" ASC) was established in May 2016,[4] Carpet Weaver Day started to be celebrated on May 5th according to the Presidential Decree dated 25.11.2016,[5][6] the new building for Azerbaijan Carpet Museum designed by an Austrian architect Franz Janz in the shape of a rolled carpet was put into use in August 2014.[7][8] In addition, State Program on the “Protection and development of carpet art in the Republic of Azerbaijan 2018-2022” was approved in February 2018 by the President Ilham Aliyev with the aim to create raw material supply for this industry, improve the infrastructure for carpet-weaving, support the establishment of new workplaces, carry out qualified personnel training in the field of carpet-weaving, as well as, wool processing, wool and silk yarns manufacturing, processing plants used for coloring and production of dyes.[9]

AZERKHALCHA Logo

References
  1. "Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage". UNESCO.
  2. "Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage". UNESCO.
  3. "Law "On the protection and development of carpet art of Azerbaijan"". Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan - Database of Regulatory Legal Acts. Retrieved 2019-09-17.
  4. "About Azerkhalcha". azerxalca.az. Retrieved 2019-09-17.
  5. "Carpet Weavers' Day marked in Baku [PHOTO]". AzerNews.az. 2017-05-05. Retrieved 2019-09-17.
  6. "Azerbaijan celebrates Carpet Weaver Day | Vestnik Kavkaza". vestnikkavkaza.net. Retrieved 2019-09-17.
  7. "Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum". azcarpetmuseum.az. Retrieved 2019-09-17.
  8. "Carpet Museum in Azerbaijan – aasarchitecture". Retrieved 2019-09-17.
  9. "On the approval of the State Program for the "Protection and development of carpet art in the Republic of Azerbaijan 2018-2022"". Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan - Database of Regulatory Legal Acts. Retrieved 2019-09-17.
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