Azerbaijan Carpet Museum

The Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum, located in Baku, Azerbaijan, is a specialized institution dedicated to the collection, preservation, and promotion of Azerbaijani carpet art. It holds the largest collection of Azerbaijani carpets in the world. Founded in 1967, it was the first museum globally devoted specifically to carpets. The museum displays carpets and rugs showcasing both historical and modern weaving techniques and materials, serving as a primary center for researching and promoting this national heritage.

The museum was established by order 130 of the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR on March 13, 1967. Initially named the State Museum of Carpets and Applied Arts, it was renamed in honor of the carpet designer Latif Karimov in 1993, a title it held until 2014 when it was simplified to the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum. Its first exhibition opened on April 26, 1972, inside the Juma Mosque in Icheri Sheher, a structure originally built in the 15th century and renovated in the 19th. Following the collapse of the USSR, the museum relocated in 1992 to the second floor of the former Lenin Museum, now the Baku Museum Center. A 2004 preservation law formalized the museum's central role in safeguarding carpet heritage. Plans for a purpose-built facility began in 2010, and after a cornerstone ceremony in 2008 attended by President Ilham Aliyev and UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura, the new building opened on August 26, 2014.

The museum's holdings encompass more than 10,000 items organized into seven collections: pile and flat-woven carpets, carpet products, artistic metalwork, textiles, costumes, embroidery, ceramics, glass, wood, paper, and jewelry. While the majority of the collection dates from the 17th to the 20th centuries, it also preserves rare archaeological finds from the Bronze Age, the Ancient Period, and the early Middle Ages, including bronze, ceramic, and bone artifacts provided by the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences. The core of the collection consists of diverse carpet types, such as pile carpets like khalcha, khali, and gabe, and flat-woven pieces like palas, kilim, chechim, sumakh, shedde, varni, and zili, alongside various woven goods like khurdjun and chul sacks. Over time, the institution expanded its scope to include works by contemporary carpet artists, sculptors, ceramicists, jewelers, and woodcarvers.

Significant acquisitions and donations have shaped the museum's collection. In 2013, Beverly Schiltz donated two valuable carpets from her late husband's estate: the Salyan Khilasi from Shirvan and the Ajdahali Dragon carpet from Karabakh dated to the late 17th century. In 2017, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation purchased and donated an 18th-century embroidery piece, while Elshad Tahirov donated the Baghchada Gullar Karabakh carpet. That same year, the museum acquired a Shamakhi carpet from the late 17th or early 18th century from the Austria Auction Company. In 2018, the Foundation donated the 17th-century Khatai and Nakhchivan carpets, and Italian collector Mirco Cattai donated a 19th-century Hajigayib carpet from Guba. The collection also includes the Sirt Chichi and Khila Buta carpets. Additionally, the museum holds 600 carpets rescued from Shusha before its occupation in 1992, displayed in an exhibition titled Burnt Culture. Recent additions include the Garagoyunlu carpet in 2020, a Lampa carpet woven in Shusha in the 1930s and exhibited in 2022, and two 19th-century Qajar women's jewelry pieces purchased from Sotheby's in 2019.

Since 2014, the museum has been housed in a purpose-built structure in the Baku seafront park, facing the maritime boulevard. Designed by Austrian architect Franz Janz, the building's exterior is shaped like a rolled carpet, a conceptual nod to the institution's focus. The construction took over six years to complete, requiring the demolition of a historically significant predecessor building on the site. This architectural form physically manifests the museum's mission, providing a modern facility tailored to the exhibition and preservation of textile arts.

The Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum is located in Baku, Azerbaijan, and operates as a prominent cultural and research center. It organizes public lectures, study courses on carpets and applied arts, and hosts international symposia and conferences. The institution has also organized exhibitions in more than 30 countries, including France, Germany, England, Japan, and the Netherlands, participating in events such as a 1998 UNESCO exhibition in Paris dedicated to Fuzuli and a 1999 exhibition for the 1300th anniversary of the Book of Dede Korkut. The museum maintains a bookstore offering publications on Azerbaijani crafts and carpet art, and it collaborates internationally, including a section facilitating cultural exchanges with the Louvre in France.