Shushi Carpet Museum ( hy, Շուշիի գորգերի թանգարան) was founded by Vardan Astsatryan in 2011. The museum opened its doors to the public in 2013, when its location,

Shusha / hy, Շուշի , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = ShushaCollection2021.jpg , image_caption = Landmarks of Shusha, from top left:Ghazanchetsots Cathedral • Yukhari Govhar ...

( hy, Shushi, Շուշի), was under the control of the

self-proclaimed Self-proclaimed describes a legal title that is recognized by the declaring person but not necessarily by any recognized legal authority. It can be the status of a noble title or the status of a nation. The term is used informally for anyone declari ...

Republic of Artsakh Artsakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh () or the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (),, is a list of states with limited recognition, breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan ...

. 71 rugs and carpets from the Shushi Carpet Museum are on display in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

at the National Museum-Institute of Architecture after

Alexander Tamanyan Alexander Tamanian (, March 4, 1878 – February 20, 1936) was a Russian-born Armenian neoclassical architect, well known for his work in the city of Yerevan. Life and work Tamanian was born in the city of Yekaterinodar in 1878 in the family of ...

History

The founding private collection included old carpets made by famous Armenian carpet weavers from different villages in

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

and

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked country, landlocked region in the Transcaucasia, South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik, and covering the southeastern range o ...

. The collection comprised old Armenian carpets found and bought by its founder, Vardan Astsatryan. Until November 1, 2020, the museum had two buildings under its supervision. A fund was established in 2011 by donors from the United States. In 2012, a proper building was designated for displaying the carpets given by donors from Moscow, Russia. The museum had carpets on display, as well as traditional Historical and cultural artifacts. These artifacts received expert evaluation, underwent restoration and then were put on display. Until the end of October 2020, the museum consisted of about three hundred (300) carpets and flat weaves. This original collection had dated from the 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century. The majority of the collection presented traditional

Karabakh carpet The Karabakh carpet (, ) or Karabagh carpet, is one of the varieties of carpets of Transcaucasia, made in the bi-national Karabakh region. History Carpet-weaving was historically a traditional profession for the female population of Karabakh, inc ...

-weaving and

Armenian carpet The term Armenian carpet designates, but is not limited to, tufted rugs or knotted carpets woven in Armenia or by Armenians from pre-Christian times to the present. It also includes a number of flat woven textiles. The term covers a large variet ...

-weaving styles. In addition to the locally woven carpets, there were few rugs, carpets, and flat weaves from Turkman,

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

in the museum's collection. There were also Russian cultural artifacts in the museum. During his visit to the museum in August 2013, the President of the Republic of Artsakh

Bako Sahakyan Bako Sahaki Sahakyan ( hy, Բակո Սահակի Սահակյան; born 30 August 1960) is an Artsakhi politician who served as the third president of the ''de facto''-independent Republic of Artsakh from 2007 to 2020. He is the longest-serving p ...

stated that the carpet museum plays an important role in preserving our national traditions and values and also for the development of tourism. On October 29, 2020, an explosion of a large rocket, amidst heavy shelling of the city of Shushi ( Azerbaijani: ''Şuşa'') by Azerbaijani Armed Forces during the

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict in 2020 that took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, the surrounding territories. It was a major escalation of ...

, damaged the museum buildings. On November 1, 2020, the most valuable items of the collection (about 160 carpets and rugs) were evacuated to

(Armenia) to avoid further destruction. The remainder of the collection, consisting of 100–120 carpets as well as other cultural artifacts were left in

Shusha / hy, Շուշի , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = ShushaCollection2021.jpg , image_caption = Landmarks of Shusha, from top left:Ghazanchetsots Cathedral • Yukhari Govhar ...

. Currently, the collection is on display in the National Museum-Institute of Architecture after Alexander Tamanyan and

History Museum of Armenia The History Museum of Armenia (armenian: Հայաստանի պատմության թանգարան) is a museum in Armenia with departments of Archaeology, Numismatics, Ethnography, Modern History and Restoration. It has a national collection of 40 ...

, both in

Gallery

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History

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading