Baghshan, Iran, April 24, 2006--More than 1,200 village women have set to work weaving a giant carpet worth $8.5 million, according to The Hindu.
Iranian experts claim that it will be the world's largest hand-woven floorcovering ever. It was commissioned for the Sheik Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates. Iran has a long and legendary tradition of carpet-making.
Jalalledin Bassam, director of the Iranian Government-owned Iran Carpet Co., said weaving the carpet--6,000 square meters and weighing about 48 tonnes--will take at most 14 months for villagers who will work two shifts daily.
"The carpet will be a symbol of Iranian handicraft art," he said. "It is decorated with traditional Persian designs and natural colours and is made of 2.2 billion knots."
The weaving began last month at this village northeast of Tehran, and at two nearby villages. The weavers are all women between ages of 15 and 60. They are supervised by 50 men acting as technical experts. These men will later travel to Abu Dhabi to join the pieces together at the mosque once the carpet is completed.
The project has revived the carpet economy in northeastern Iran at a time when carpet prices have plummeted.
"This project has given us a new life. We are happy," said Sakineh Tajik, 36, one of the weavers. "We are proud of our art," she said. Her husband is one of the experts supervising the work.
Until this carpet was commissioned, the world's largest was in the Qabus Azam Mosque in Muscat, Oman. It also was the work of Iranian carpet weavers and shipped to Oman in 2000. That carpet had a surface of 5,000 sq m, weighed 22 tonnes and was valued at $5.2 million.
Carpets are one of Iran's biggest non-oil export items, accounting for $500 million annually. In the 1990s, Iran was the world's biggest carpet exporter but the industry has been hit by cheaper Pakistani, Chinese and Indian copies of traditional Iranian patterns.
Iran's carpet trade with the West began seriously in the 16th century when European kings and courtiers began importing the tribal works from Persia, modern-day Iran.
