Carpet Museum

Nakhchivan State Carpet Museum is located in the city center at Heydar Aliyev Street 21. Its location is very handy: insofar as you are close to the center, you can reach the museum by taxi in 5–10 minutes. It is also conveniently located for city walking routes, so you can easily explore the city center on foot.

The museum operates from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM every day. In general, the working time of this museum coincides with the operation time of other central museums in Nakhchivan. The administration can change the operating time if there are any official government programs or events.

Admission to the Carpet Museum is free. You are not required to buy a ticket for individual visits. The museum operates according to the same principles as other public cultural institutions in Nakhchivan. If special events, special programs, or group events are planned, advance permission from the administration of the museum is required.

The museum is home to nearly 4,000 works, more than 400 of which are on permanent display. A regular visit would take about 45-60 minutes. If you want to see the carpets and weavings closer, you can spend about 1-1.5 hours. The hall is compact enough to be visited on the same day as other museums on the same street.

The collection is not restricted to carpets only. The museum includes more than 3,000 cultural pieces. Xovlu carpets, kilims, palazlar, cecimler, sumak weavings, felts, mats, carpet-related items like saddlebags, bags, pillowcases, chest covers, and weaving tools are all exhibited together. In this way, you can see Nakhchivan’s historical weaving culture as a whole: both floor carpets and woven products used in everyday life.

Most of the carpets and weavings in the museum date from the 18th and 19th centuries, but examples woven in Nakhchivan and other parts of Azerbaijan during the 20th century and later are also included in the collection. This allows you to compare and examine both historical carpet styles and more recent weavings under one roof.

The main emphasis of the museum is to document and promote the Nakhchivan school of carpet-making. The collection includes carpets both with and without xov from the Nakhchivan center and also from Ordubad, Sharur, Shahbuz, Julfa, and the Kangarli lineage. These examples clearly illustrate how Nakhchivan carpets differ from other regions in their pattern development, coloration, and composition.

Information panels in exhibition halls explain the meanings of the carpet motifs and colors. The themes most frequently encountered are abundance, heroism, family and love, longevity, protection, and devotion to the land. Botanical and geometrical patterns reflect the ancient symbolic language of Azerbaijani carpet art, while Nakhchivan carpets represent a regional interpretation of this language. The primary language of the panels is Azerbaijani; if you have some understanding of Azerbaijani Turkish, you can easily follow the explanations.

Historical weaving looms, wool combs, loop knives, ties, wooden parts on looms, and other auxiliary tools connected with the museum collection are shown in this section, helping you understand the technical conditions under which carpets are woven. Programs organized throughout the year offer demonstrations and museum days showcasing carpet weaving, which allow watching the weaving process from up close. These programs depend on the event calendar of the museum.

If you’d like to plan a guided tour, the museum offers narrated tours for local institutions, educational groups, and official delegations, accompanied by museum staff. Explanations are in Azerbaijani. If you require narration in a different language, please contact the museum in advance of your visit so a guide or written materials can be prepared.

Photography and taking videos are essential in preserving the artifacts. Because most of the carpets in the museum’s collection are handmade and comprise individual pieces, you must notify the staff in advance before taking photos. You require permission from the management to take flash photos, close-up photos that may cause damage to the artifacts, and professional photography. Apart from the permanent exhibition, the museum organizes temporary carpet-related exhibitions, book launches, and events related to joint cultural activities. Such events display newly acquired carpets or contemporary works on Nakhchivan carpet art.

The open-plan nature of the collection allows for the addition of new pieces to the exhibition over time. The Nakhchivan State Carpet Museum became an independent museum in the late 1990s, and its main objective was to preserve under state protection the carpet and weaving traditions and to present this heritage to the public. In 2013, the exhibition layout of this museum was revamped, and its website was launched. Nowadays, the museum is a place of accumulation and presentation of knowledge on carpet weaving in the region to numerous visitors.