VIRTUAL EXHIBITION OF THE LIBRARY OF ELBASSY «CARPET PAZYRYK»

The Library of Elbassy features the virtual exhibition "Carpet Pazyryk" within the framework of the project "Exhibition of one exhibit". You can see it on the official website of the Library of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Elbassy in the section "Virtual exhibitions".

The exhibit is considered to be the pride of the collection, as it represents an exact reconstruction of the famous archaeological find – a knotted pile carpet found in the grave-mound of the Pazyryk culture, which dates back to the VI-III centuries BC. The original of a unique archaeological artifact is kept in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

The oldest surviving carpet is a symbol of the history of carpet weaving for many peoples, an outstanding work of applied art. The wide popularity of the unique carpet of the Pazyryk culture determines its popularity as an object for creating exact copies among professionals.

As a diplomatic gift to Elbassy N. Nazarbayev, this carpet was presented in 2010 during the ceremony of presenting credentials by diplomats of a number of countries. Obviously, the choice of the gift is due to the fact that in the territory of modern Kazakhstan the outstanding monuments of the Pazyryk archaeological culture - the mound of the burial ground of Berel - are being explored. Thus, the diplomatic gift characterizes not only the wide geography of our country's international relations, but also is an enduring symbol of the global historical and cultural community of the peoples who inhabited the territory of Eurasia since ancient times.

History of the archaeological find

The Pazyryk archaeological culture existed on the territory of Altai, adjacent territories of Kazakhstan and Mongolia in the early Iron Age. This culture is familiar to Kazakhstanis from the famous finds of the burial ground of Berel from Eastern Kazakhstan. The main feature of the finds of this archaeological culture is a high degree of preservation, which is due to such a natural phenomenon as "permafrost". Thanks to permafrost, not only objects made of metal, ceramics, stone, but also fabrics, felt, wood, organic materials, including the famous Pazyryk carpet, have survived to this day.

The carpet was discovered by an expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences under the leadership of S. Rudenko in 1949 during the excavation of the Fifth Pazyryk mound - one of the five large stone mounds that are the family cemetery of the tribal nobility. Thanks to the already developed archaeological and restoration technologies it was possible to transport the find to Hermitage almost without damage. In the laboratory of tissue restoration, the largest scientist N. Semenovich carried out work on carpet conservation, which primarily consisted in stopping the process of fiber destruction and preserving its texture.

The Pazyruk carpet is almost square (183*200 cm), made of sheep wool. The preserved threads of ocher, red, green, yellow colors testify to the original brightness and richness of color. The central field of the carpet is bordered by five borders. On the outer border there are figures of winged griffins. The next wide belt shows a procession of stylized riders on a red background – seven on each side. Another border with stylized rosettes on a yellowish background precedes images of grazing deer on a light blue background. The border surrounding the central field is represented by repeated images of an eagle griffin. The center of the carpet is formed by 24 squares filled with crossing petals and leaves in the form of triangles on a red background. The clarity of the smallest elements indicates the high development of carpet weaving of that period.

To this day, there are different points of view about the origin of the carpet: Median, Persian, Parthian, Massaget. The wide variety of geography of its origin is an indication of the global intercultural ties that existed in the territory of Eurasia in the first millennium BC. The Pazyryk carpet is an invaluable source on the history and semantics of ancient art. Along with other outstanding monuments of its time, the Pazyryk carpet is a visible example of the high level of nomad culture of the early Iron Age.

You can get acquainted with this exhibition at: https://presidentlibrary.kz/ru/content/exhibitions/virtual.