Culture

Artsakh rug with the inscription

Try to imagine the events this rug has lived through in Artsakh since it was woven in 1818.

Wars, pogroms, human displacements. This was around the time the Russians conquered the Caucasus from the Persians.

A fascinating Armenian Karabagh (Artsakh) rug with the inscription “Eghsa (short for Eghsabet) Ghazarov 1818”.

Lots of interesting elements both human and animal weaved into this rug.

The rug is presently 70″ x 49″. But it was cut down by a third and shortened and has had lots of repairs during its history.

Arto Tavukciyan

Vigen Avetisyan

Recent Posts

Hayravank Monastery: The “Father Monastery” of Lake Sevan and the Legend of the Doves

On a rocky promontory above the southwestern shore of Lake Sevan, at an elevation of…

2 days ago

Scythian Ceremonial Swords and the Art of the Van Kingdom (Urartu)

Among the most arresting objects to survive from the Early Iron Age Near East are…

4 days ago

Abandoned by an Ally: The French Armenian Legion in Cilicia and the Road to the Smyrna Catastrophe

How a promise made to genocide survivors was traded away for peace with Ankara —…

1 week ago

The Vilgort Cup: A Silver Masterpiece of Cilician Armenia (c. 1150–1159 A.D.)

A Fragment That Traveled Across Continents The gilt-silver medallion shown above — two richly dressed…

1 week ago

Hannibal and Artaxias the Great: The Carthaginian General Who Helped Build the “Armenian Carthage”

Few episodes in ancient Armenian history capture the imagination quite like the tradition that Hannibal…

2 weeks ago

The Priestess of the Kingdom of Van: A 9th-Century BC Bronze Figurine in the British Museum

Five angles of one small bronze figure — and what emerges is not an abstract…

4 weeks ago