Your trusted source

On February 26 in Glendale Central Library presentation of "Carpet of Armenian orphans" by Maurice Misaka-Kelechyana, dedicated to the unique carpet "Gasir" Weaved by hands of the Armenian women who survived the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, will be held, reports the Glendale Arts website.

The Azerbaijani side didn’t lose the chance of provocation, and stated that allegedly the carpet and its ornaments are "of Azerbaijani origine." Thus, according to the Azerbaijani news website "Pia.az" the carpet "Gazir" belongs to "the Azerbaijani school of Tabriz" and supposedly the eight-pointed star placed in the center of the carpet proves it.

It should be noted that this is the only "argument" Azerbaijani side brings, which cannot stand any criticism. In the center of the Armenian carpet there is no eight-pointed star. Even with the naked eye it is obvious that the central ornament besides the eight pointed corners has also four tabs with rounded ends, forming a Christ, which is the symbol of Christianity, and the pattern as a whole is the so-called "sprouted or Flowering Cross" which is common for the medieval Armenian culture.

However, even if we assume that this pattern is an eight-pointed star, this fact would not speaks in favor of the Azerbaijani side either, as this symbol was often used by artists also in the early Christian period and was called the "Star of David", and in its turn had more ancient roots. In this context, the phrase "Azerbaijani ornament" is not acceptable, given the fact that the above mentioned Tabriz carpet school is of Iranian origin.

Note that the carpet contains more than 4 million nodes and is decorated with traceries of blossoming Garden of Eden, patterns of plants and animals. Ornamental carpet system gives reason to believe that the scenes depicted on it are from the Biblical story about Adam and Eva.

The "Carpet of Armenian orphans" was woven in an orphanage for girls in the Lebanese city of Gazir by the hands of orphans who survived through by selling the carpets and contributions from the American Near East Relief Committee. On December 4, 1925 the carpet was given to the US President Calvin Coolidge as a gift as a sign of gratitude for the help provided to the Armenians during the Genocide. President George. C. Coolidge, when leaving the White House, took the carpet with him, and kept it in his family until 1980. Family Coolidge returned the carpet to the White House in 1982, where he was placed in storage. Despite pressure from Turkey, on 18-23 November 2014 the famous carpet "Gasi" was exhibited in the visitors’ hall of the White House at the exhibition on the theme of "Thank you, United States: three gift to presidents in gratitude for the generosity of the United States abroad." The world's media wrote about the exhibition, noting also about the carpet’s story.