Iranian Weaver Produce World's Largest Carpet

Tehran, Iran, February 23, 2007--According to PressTV, Iranian carpet weavers have completed the world's largest carpet in the city of Neishabur, northeast Iran.

The carpet will be brought down in separate pieces from the looms Friday in a special ceremony attended by local officials.

The carpet measures 6,000 square meters, contains over 2 billion knots and has been woven with 35000 kg of wool and 12000 kg of cotton. It took a year to finish, Iran's Cultural Heritage News Agency (CHN) has reported.

The design of the carpet is called "Toranj Afshan" - a composition of flowers, leaves, branches and plants scattered in different directions.

The project was launched upon an order by the Unites Arab Emirates and Iran's Carpet Company in Neishabur. It was woven on nine separate looms and will be attached together in the Sheikh Zayed mosque in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.

It took 1200 weavers to complete the carpet whose value is estimated to be $8.2 million.

Iranian weavers had previously finished two other large-size carpet projects. They included a carpet measuring 5,000 square meters and another measuring 400 square meters which were woven in Isfahan and Khorasan provinces, respectively.

The Persian Carpet is one of the most distinguishable manifestations of Persian art and culture, renowned for their richness of color, variety of patterns and quality of design.

Kashan, Isfahan, Tabriz, Mashhad, Kerman, Qom, Nain, Sanandaj, Arak and Hamedan are considered as the cradles of Iran's traditional carpet industry.