Yesterday, May 5, the ANCM celebrated Weavers’ Day

Yesterday, May 5, the ANCM celebrated Weavers’ Day. The museum hosted the ancient ceremony of cutting the carpet off the loom, a masterclass on weaving hasir, and the premier of the Flying Carpet puppet show.

The carpet Thoughts is woven based on the sketch by the artist Eldar Ibadullayev, the winner of the international carpet sketch contest organized jointly by the ANCM and the Heydar Aliyev Foundation as part of the 880th-anniversary celebration of the genius Azerbaijani poet and philosopher Nizami Ganjavi.

The ANCM's Traditional Technologies Department prepared the carpet in seven months. The museum's artists including Taryer Bashirov, the senior artist participated in its sketch design and color selection. The carpet demonstrates forty shades.

Rufat Rzayev, a craftsman from Kokolos village, Astara, Azerbaijan, facilitated a masterclass on making hasir (a mat). Hasirs, dating back to the historical Neolithic period, are considered the ancestors of Azerbaijani carpets. For centuries, they have been an invaluable household item. They maintain artistic value due to their delicate designs. Unfortunately, today this art form is gradually disappearing into oblivion. The ANCM's project Sustainability and Cultural Heritage: the Art of Weaving Mats is aimed to attract public attention to the protection and revival of this craft.

The ANCM's Children's Department premiered the Flying Carpet puppet show as part of the Year of Shusha. The play is aimed to encourage the Azerbaijani carpet weaving art among children. It narrates the journey of Omar and his grandmother Nabat to the magic carpet world, where they discover the various carpet patterns of different parts of our country. Playwright and design: the ANCM's Children's Department and the museum's Children Union.