Persian Carpet of Peace and Friendship wraps up in Tabriz

Report by Mehr News Agency; photos by Meghan Nutttall

The Persian Carpet of World Peace and Friendship was unveiled Wednesday during a ceremony in the presence of several Iranian, foreign and UNESCO officials in Tabriz.

UNESCO banner celebrating the carpet of universal peace.

The project began at Tehran's Sadabad Historical Complex in 2008 and took two years to accomplish during which representatives of over 100 countries visited and symbolically tied a knot on the carpet, the Persian service of Mehr reported on Wednesday.

"This carpet is actually a means of promoting peace and helping place a high value on world peace and friendship and strengthening relationships among nations," said Sadabad director Eshrat Shayeq.

"The 2 x 1.5 meter carpet will act as Iran's cultural Olympic torch that will travel through different countries to finally arrive and go on permanent display at UN Headquarters in Paris.

"So far, the book covering the lengthy process of weaving the carpet as well as notes inscribed by high-ranking international officials about the project in three different languages has been published," he added.

He mentioned that Persian carpet weaving has been dormant and has not achieved its rightful status despite its worldwide fame and we hope these new ideas would help revive this traditional art.

A ceremony is also being arranged to pay tribute to master carpet designers Mahmud Farshchian and Mirza-Taqi Khiabani in the near future, he concluded.
 

Weaving Peace in Tehran

A report by author & Tapestry Weaver, Meghan Nutttall

Easter Sunday I awoke to Tehran traffic outside my hotel window. Some wrestled the tangle of cars and pedestrians on their way to mass at the nearby Orthodox Church. I prepared for my own spiritual journey, the reason I had traveled through eleven time zones and half way around the world: to weave a knot on Iran's World Peace Carpet, a project sponsored by UNESCO and the Cultural Heritage,Tourism and Handicraft Organization of Iran. For a tapestry weaver and author (my first novel was inspired by an Afshar tribal rug), tying a goodwill knot on this carpet, along with 700 others from 89 nations, seemed every bit as reverent as attending Easter Mass...

Author Meghan Nutttall Sayres seated at the World Peace Carpet beside Head Weaver Jafar Shahabi and Museum Curator Fahimeh Naderinajad in the Saad Abad Historical Complex, Tehran, Iran.
Practicing knots before making one on the Peace Carpet. The silk warp threads were strung so closely together that it took a needle-like crochet hook to work the threads apart.
Signing the Peace Carpet guest book with Fahimeh Naderinajad. The comments will be published into a book and presented to the United Nations with the completed carpet.
	Jafar Shahabi hung wool from my sheep on his loom and plans to weave it into the Peace Carpet.
My friend Manda Jahan and I enjoyed tea with the director of the Saad Abad Historical Complex, Ms. Eshrat Shayegh, a former parliamentarian.
Amir Haeri Mehrizi, my translator and guide (top left) weaving on the Peace Carpet. My friend Manda Jahan seated beside Abbas Sayahi at the Peace Carpet loom.
Flags representing the nationalities of the people who have come to weave on the Peace Carpet. I was the first American to weave on this rug, but 700 people from 89 nations had come before me.
My friend Manda Jahan and I enjoyed tea with the director of the Saad Abad Historical Complex, Ms. Eshrat Shayegh, a former parliamentarian.

Link to Iranian National Carpet Center

American author experiences a different side of Iran
Meghan Nuttall Sayres is the author of the
Anahita's Woven Riddle.
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