Baku, December 19, AZERTAC
This year the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum has charted a new course. First of all, attendance rates are steadily increasing. About 60.000 people visited the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum two years ago, while last year this number was more than 85.000 and in 2018 the number of visitors approached 110.000, says a report by the Carpet Museum.
The museum’s fund and its collections are being constantly replenished. In 2018, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation presented the museum two rare 17th-century Khatai (Dragon) and Nakhchivan carpets, which became one of the most valuable exhibits. The Italian collector Mirco Cattai presented museum a beautiful 19th-century Guba carpet Hajigaib. Furthermore, the museum’s collection was replenished with two more 19th-century carpets returned to Azerbaijan from abroad. These are the Guba carpet Sirt-Chichi and the Baku carpet Khila-Buta.
The organization and holding of exhibitions are part of any museums’ activity. The Azerbaijan Carpet museum both independently and in cooperation with various domestic and foreign institutions organized a whole range of exhibitions on its working site and abroad. The exhibitions of new Baku group carpet compositions, portrait carpets of Tahir Salahov, ancient kelaghai, and others, held in the museum; as well as foreign exhibition projects such as Flying Carpet in Vienna, Seven Beauties in Moscow, museum’s participation at the China (Qinghai) International Carpet Exhibition, and several others are among them.
This year, the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum has strengthened cooperation with foreign museums such as the Topkapi Palace Museum, the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art, the Russian State Museum of Oriental Art, and the Russian Ethnographic Museum. The museum staff took part in scientific conferences in India, Georgia, USA, and China.
The Azerbaijan Carpet Museum is not only an exhibition platform but also a forum for scientific debates. In 2018, two major international events took place here. One of them was the conference Decorative Arts and Interiors of ICOM two international committees. Another one is the 3rd International Symposium on Common Language of the Turkic World - Ornaments on the topic Intersections in Felt. The symposium included a scientific conference, master classes, a fashion show, exhibitions of classic and modern felt products, and a presentation of a book about the museum’s embroidery collection. The event was attended by more than 80 participants from 22 countries.
And, of course, in the outgoing year, the museum continued its tradition of holding training by foreign experts for professionals in various museum fields; free lectures for all comers; as well as a volunteer program and museum practice for students.
The young visitors are not forgotten: the museum has launched a new project Art Saturday with excursions, games and master classes; as well as quests, educational and adventure games for kids based on the museum collections.
The museum’s works are highly appreciated not only by visitors but also by international museum organizations. In 2018, the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum was awarded the Best Experience in the field of intangible cultural heritage database by CIDOC, ICOM’s International Committee for Documentation. The museum also became a nominee for the 2018 European Museum of the Year Award, where received the certificate for the noteworthy achievement in raising the public quality of the museum. And, finally, for the second straight year, the museum was granted Certificate of Excellence by TripAdvisor as the best museum of the year.