Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

With its fascinating exhibits, Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum never ceases to amaze art lovers.

The museum actively cooperates with international partners and implements multiple cultural project aimed at promotion of Azerbaijan's carpet weaving art. The cooperation with the Hermitage Museum is another important step in this direction.

A memorandum of understanding has been recently signed between the National Carpet Museum and the Hermitage Museum.

The signing ceremony was attended by museums’ directors Shirin Melikova and Mikhail Piotrovsky.

The document reflects the intentions of the parties on the development and expansion of bilateral relations and cultural cooperation in the field of spreading knowledge about the history, culture and traditions of the two countries.

The sides plan to conduct research work, exchange information and experience in the field of museum business, including storage and restoration of exhibits, and implement joint exhibition projects.

The memorandum provides catalogue of Azerbaijani carpets stored in the Hermitage Museum, clarification of their labels and annotations in terms of indicating Azerbaijan as their place of manufacture, as well as the organization of a joint exhibition of two museums in November 2020, as part of the IX St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum.

Special place will be taken by work to improve the conditions of access to cultural property for people with special needs.

The project "Pazyryk carpet is one of such programs. The project unites the experience of the two museums in this area. Moreover, it is also planned to present replicas of Pazyryk carpets for visually impaired people.

The project will be based on a special weaving method developed at the National Carpet Museum, which combines piled and pileless carpet weaving techniques.

Each exhibit will be accompanied by Braille text and a tiflocom commentary (a laconic description of an object.

The first inter-museum project will be coordinated by the director of the National Carpet Museum Shirin Melikova and the head of the Hermitage's Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Precious Metals Igor Malkiel.

This is the second joint project of two museums. At the invitation of the National Carpet Museum Igor Malkiel held a training in last year. The event discussed conservation of the museum's jewelry collection and inclusive programs.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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