On February 7, 2020, the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum on behalf of Shirin Melikova and the Hermitage Museum on behalf of Mikhail Piotrovskiy signed a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation.

The document reflected both museums’ intention to develop and expand bilateral relations and cultural cooperation in promoting knowledge of history, culture, and traditions of the peoples of Azerbaijan and Russia. According to the memorandum, the parties plan to conduct research work, exchange of experience, museum objects’ conservation and restoration, and organize joint exhibition projects. On top of that, both museums will prepare a catalog of Azerbaijani carpets from the Hermitage Museum, correct their labels and explications, as well as organize a joint exhibition within the IX Saint Petersburg International Cultural Forum in November 2020.

Both museums target to work towards erasing barriers for individuals with disabilities. For the start, the Carpet Museum’s team will prepare replicas of Pazirik carpet’s fragments from the Hermitage Museum collection to allow visually impaired visitors to touch them and feel the variety of techniques and ornaments’ shape.

Notably, the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum implements a mixed technique of combining flat-woven and pile weavings that enables one to feel the carpet ornaments and their structure through the tactile method. The parties decide to accompany such samples with Braille.

This project will be displayed both in the Hermitage Museum and the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum. Shirin Melikova, Director of the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum and Igor Malkiel, Head of the Laboratory for the Scientific Restoration of Precious and Archaeological Metals of the Hermitage will be the project curators.

This is the second joint project between museums. In November 2019, Igor Malkiel led the training on the conservation of jewelry objects in the Carpet Museum within the museum’s invitation. Here, they discussed the importance of inclusive programs in museum space.

This ceremony is a significant event for the cultural life of Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum is the first museum in our country signing a memorandum of cooperation with the Hermitage Museum.

The Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum operates not only as a cultural and educational center but also promotes the country’s cultural heritage policy abroad. Today, one of the main areas of the Carpet Museum’s activities is to establish international relations and cooperation with leading world museums.