Carpet​ Stalin - 70

The history of this exhibit from our museum collection is very interesting and at the same time mysterious.

1994. It was that year I was invited to the position of the Chief Curator of the Azerbaijan National Museum of Art (then - the State Museum of Arts named after R.Mustafayev). One day Ibrahim Zeynalov, the former director of the museum, People's Artist of Azerbaijan informed me that there is a huge carpet in the museum basement. He decided to move it to a more spacious room.​

What was our surprise when we unrolled it! The carpet was woven for the 70th anniversary of J.V.Stalin in 1949 and a few years after Stalin's death in 1953 the carpet was consigned to oblivion. It was designed by famous Azerbaijani artists by order of the Museum of Arts back in 1940. All this and much more remained to be clarified.

According to the registration documents of the museum, the carpet was ordered, as mentioned above, by the Azerbaijan State Museum of Arts in 1940. It is mentioned in the General Inventory Book. It became known that Latif Karimov, Ismail Akhundov, and Kazim Kazimzade are the authors of the carpet.​

On December 2, 1949, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued the Decree “On the formation of a committee in connection with the 70th anniversary of the birth of Comrade J.V.Stalin".​

It was decided to present to the leader a symbol of folk art - an Azerbaijani carpet. This responsible state task was entrusted to the then young artists L.Karimov, I.Akhundov, and K.Kazimzade. In 1950, all three artists were awarded the First Degree Stalin Prize for fulfilling this order.​

The carpet is huge - 70 sq.m. Perhaps this is due to the date of the anniversary. There is an image of Stalin in the Kremlin office in the center of the composition. The fragments of the revolutionary activities of the nations' leader and portraits of his associates decorate the entire carpet border. The achievements of the Azerbaijan SSR during the Soviet period are widely shown here. A distinctive feature of this carpet is that, along the entire perimeter, the ornaments of the carpet are in a purely Azerbaijani national style.​

It seemed that everything was clear with this exhibit. The authors, history and place of creation are known. It is also known that, presumably, until the mid-50s of the last century, the carpet was displayed at the permanent exhibition of the Stalin Museum (later the House of Pioneers) in Baku. However, several years ago, thanks to the recommendation of Dr. Shirin Melikova, Director of the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum Israeli citizen Gulia Mardakhayeva contacted me. This meeting will forever remain in my memory. It turned out that she is the daughter of one of the weavers of this anniversary carpet.​

Here is a fragment of her story: “My mother Ifrad Aharonova was born on February 1, 1928. She lived and worked in Krasnaya Sloboda, Guba, Azerbaijan. In 1949, she was sent to Baku to weave Stalin's carpet. They worked for a whole year in two shifts, 12 hours each. There were 20 girls in each shift. They had lunch at a restaurant every day. They lived in the Kömürçü Meydan. Latif Karimov constantly monitored their work, gave the necessary advice. After the completion of the work, all the weavers received gifts: shoes, a piece of panne velvet, kelaghai, as well as a Certificate of Honor from the First Secretary Mirjafar Baghirov. Currently, my mother lives in Arad, Israel."

In memory of those days, Gulia khanum presented our museum a photo of Latif Karimov with the weavers of the carpet Stalin-70. Ifrad Aharonova is first from the left at the top row. We, in turn, gifted her a disc with a picture of this carpet.

According to my information, this photo is published for the first time. Three more girls are pictured here. Maybe someone will recognize them? We will be very grateful for any information.

P.S. In 2011, the carpet Stalin - 70 was displayed for the second time. The famous film director Vagif Mustafayev, who from 1999 to 2013 created twelve documentaries dedicated to the life and activities of the National Leader Heydar Aliyev, shot the tenth film "Heydar Aliyev. State" within the interiors of the museum on Niyazi Street 9. Some exhibits from our funds, including the carpet Stalin-70, were used during the shooting.​

Naila Ragimova,

Chief Curator of Azerbaijan National Museum of Art