Azerbaijani carpet

Azerbaijani carpet (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan xalçası) is a traditional carpet (rug) made in Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani carpet is a handmade textile of various sizes, with a dense texture and a pile or pile-less surface, whose patterns are characteristic of Azerbaijan's many carpet-making regions. Traditionally, the carpets were used in Azerbaijan to cover floors, decorate interior walls, sofas, chairs, beds and tables.

Carpet making is a family tradition transferred orally and through practice, with carpet making and rug making being solely a women's occupation. In the past, every young girl had to learn the art of weaving carpets, and the carpets she wove became a part of her dowry. In the case of a newly married son, it was his mother who wove a large rug for his new household. Traditionally, men sheared the sheep in the spring and autumn, while women collected dyestuffs and spun and dyed the yarn in the spring, summer and autumn.

Peer-reviewed International Journal of Heritage Studies explains: "While it is difficult to find Azerbaijani carpet as a category on its own before the 1930s, Baku was known as a convenient place ‘for obtaining a constant and abundant supply of genuine article [Oriental carpets]’ (Coxon 1884, 2)."

Azerbaijan for roughly three decades, has been particularly eager to exploit their connections to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), with a generous donation of $5 million, to present Azerbaijan as a major hub of the art form. Azerbaijan successfully lobbied to inscribe the traditional art of Azerbaijani carpet weaving on the representative list of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Thus since November 2010 the Azerbaijani carpet was proclaimed a Masterpiece of Intangible Heritage by UNESCO.