W. European, Indo-European Carpet Exhibition to be held

Tehran, Dec 14, IRNA - The Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism (RICHT) will organize the first exhibition of West European and Indo-European carpets in Iran simultaneous with the Research Week. Shokoufeh Mesbahi, the scientific and executive secretary of the exhibition said the aim of the exhibition, with the focus on Savonnerie carpets of France, is to introduce European carpets and provide an opportunity for the recognition of carpet weaving in other countries. She further said that the collection on display in the exhibition includes seven French, three Indo-European and one British carpet. Mesbahi noted that in the course of time and with cultural exchanges, the art and knowledge of carpet weaving transferred from Iran to the neighboring countries, adding that Persian carpets during the Achaemenid, the Sassanid, and the Safavid eras were introduced through the ancient Greek historians, the Eastern geographers, tourists and envoys of the European courts as a gift of the kings of Iran to the European kings and other countries. She said the interest of the European kings in the oriental carpets, especially the fluffy carpets, led to the support and production of carpets in Europe and as a result royal workshops were set up in different European countries in order to produce carpets for covering the floor of their palaces in accordance with their needs and tastes. According to Mesbahi, the raw materials, the method of weaving and other features of the design are directly or indirectly indebted to Iran but carpets woven in Europe are different from the oriental products in their design, coloring, and weaving density. She said that at the time when India was a British colony, carpet-weaving workshops became operational in prisons in order to weave carpets for the British palaces. Those carpets are known as the Indo-European and their designs are mainly similar to that of oriental carpets, in particular, Persian carpets. The carpet exhibition will be open to the public for a period of 20 days from December 18 up to January 6 in the upper hall of Iran Carpet Museum. 1378/IRNA