The National Heritage of Azerbaijan and UNESCO and Latif Karimov. A Life Devoted to Art event was held at the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum on November 16th. The event took place on the occasion of the Traditional Art of Azerbaijani Carpet Weaving inclusion within the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, as well as timed to the birthday of the People’s Artist, professor Latif Karimov. The Azerbaijan Carpet Museum’s staff visited the graves of Latif Karimov and the national leader Heydar Aliyev at the Alley of Honor.

Speaking at the event, Alisafa Nuriyev, Head of the Shusha Branch of the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum, noted that the carpet weaving art, distinguished by its originality, glorifies our people all over the world. On the initiative and thanks to the efforts of Mehriban Aliyeva, the First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the Traditional Art of Azerbaijani Carpet Weaving was included within the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity at the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage held in Nairobi, capital of the Republic of Kenya, from 15 to 19 November 2010. “The promotion of our people’s masterpieces on the part of UNESCO creates a positive image of our national value and positively reflects our qualities at the international level. All this, along with the importance attached to our national culture by our state, serves universal human purposes reflecting our national cultural interests throughout the world and leads to the integration of our national and spiritual values into world culture,” A.Nuriyev said.

The Head of the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum’s Shusha Branch noted that Latif Karimov, who stood out among his contemporaries with his multifaceted talent and phenomenal abilities, gained fame as the author of unusual carpet compositions and valuable scientific research, which contributed not only to national carpet art but also to world culture. He opened new directions in Azerbaijani decorative and applied arts within his tireless activity and versatile work. He studied in detail the nuances of the domestic carpet art, laid the scientific basis for its study to the future generations.

Latif Karimov devoted all his time to the oeuvre, even when he was working as a speaker at the Persian Department of Azerbaijan Radio. Then for many years he headed the artistic and creative group of the Azerkhalchaittifag enterprise. Numerous new compositions along with carpets with national ornament were developed on his initiative. He is the author of many narrative and portrait carpets. There, the master, who from childhood knew the magic of carpet knots, with high professionalism used carpet ornaments and shades of threads to put his creative feelings and emotions into practice. And in 1967, on the initiative of this pioneer in the field of carpet art, the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum, which had no analogues in the world at the time of its creation, was founded.

A.Safarov, a family member, Honored Art Worker of the Republic of Azerbaijan; Professor K.Aliyev, Doctor in Art History; and former students of the great master, folk artists A.Huseynov and E.Mikailzade shared their memories of Latif Karimov. They noted that this event, telling about the promotion of our pearls of national art through UNESCO, as well as the tireless and multifaceted activities of the famous artist in the field of decorative and applied arts, is aimed at a wide audience, especially the younger generation.

A short movie about Latif Karimov and a musical program with the participation of A.Shushaly, Associate Professor of the Azerbaijan National Conservatory, Honored Artist; and M.Jabbarova, the choral chapel performer of the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall accompanied by Z.Sadigova, Professor of the Khazar University, were presented at the event. At the end of the event, the participants visited a corner of the museum exposition dedicated to Latif Karimov.