Romania's Unique Heritage of Old Anatolian carpets

The opening of a photo exhibition of Anatolian carpets from Transylvania and a mini-symposium took place 14 March 2013 in Ankara. This event entitled ‘Romanian-Turkish Cultural Confluences: Romania’s Heritage of Old Anatolian Carpets’ was organised by the Romanian Embassy, the Romanian Cultural Institute and the Turkish Yunus Emre Institute to celebrate 135 years of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Romania.

Nabi Avci, Turkish Minister of Education, opening the exhibition — Nabi Avci, Turkish Minister of Education, opens the exhibition

The exhibition included photos of Anatolian carpets and of churches exhibiting carpets from Transylvania together with other textiles from Romania showing Ottoman influences: religious embroideries and Romanian folk kilims.

Text and images for the photo-exhibition were drawn from the volume Antique Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania edited by Stefano Ionescu. The Yunus Emre Institute, provided perfect organization for the event, including a small exhibition catalogue, with captions in English and Turkish.

The carpets woven by Anatolian women which survived in the Black Church — Hundreds of carpets woven by Anatolian women survived in the Transylvanian Reformed Churches.

Stefano Ionescu presenting the single-niche Transylvanians to the Turkish Minister of Education — Stefano Ionescu presenting a single-niche ‘Transylvanian’ to the Turkish Minister of Education.

The Romanian ambassador — The Romanian Ambassador Radu Onofrei receiving the book on the Transylvanian carpets together with the Director of the Resim Heykel Muzesi.

After the opening officials and selected guests attended a Mini-Symposium:

Dr. Suzan Bayraktaroglu discussed ‘The Relations between The Carpets in Transylvania and The Anatolian Turkish Carpets’
Levent Boz (an emerging expert of Transylvanian rugs) presented ‘Transylvanian rugs in Turkey’
Stefano Ionescu talked on ‘Tracing the Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania’