Reclaiming Stolen Legacy: Uncovering the Faith-Woven History of Armenian Rug-Making
24.10
2025
In the fall of 2025, Canadian-Armenian Arto Tavukciyan travelled to Armenia in search of missing fragments of his nation’s artistic legacy. A year ago, as he set out to write a book on his observations on the role of Armenians in rug-weaving, he uncovered astounding historical traces that showed his nation’s deeper connections to the global story of carpet-making.
Born to Armenian parents who left Turkey after Istanbul Pogroms in 1955, young Arto had a fascination with rugs – “a rug enthusiast”, as he would call himself.
“There was always something appealing to me about rugs,” says Arto, “a graphic designer in his 60s, “Of course, I knew Armenians were involved in it, but nothing more than that. But one thing I knew was that I liked Kazak Caucasian design very much, their abstract symbolism. I was not that attracted to Persian rugs. They are very fine, very nice, but I like things that you have to think about, you know”.
Arto recalls that only when he was in his fifties, his hobby led him through some studies and eventually to a discovery of some truth about his own nation.
“I discovered,” Arto says, ”that there is a bigger story than that. First, I found out that Armenians actually wove most of those Kazak Caucasian rugs, Karabagh rugs, East Caucasian rugs, and even many Persian rugs and Anatolian rugs.”
He gradually realized that the story of Armenian carpets mirrors the tragic history of his nation spanning centuries. A story long buried by its foes, now being brought to light by him.
Unearthing Hidden Traces of Genocide
In the early 20th century, popular theories in rug-making ignored the Armenian element in the region attributing all carpets to Turks and Persians.
“Before 1915,” Arto says, “you could see many old books that attributed rugs to Armenians, but even then, they did not know the depth of it. After 1915 Genocide, when Armenians were completely eliminated from Anatolia, and we were in survival mode and we wouldn’t even think about saving our culture.”
The Soviet State discouraged any nationalistic cravings and research in rug-making, and as a cultural element it was completely ignored and generalized in the common pot of “Caucasian culture”. Whereas in the Western countries, where the hands of Turkey’s hands could reach, scholars upheld the Turkish narrative claiming that all rugs made in Anatolia were of Turkish Origin.
Another group of scholars, and among them Arthur Upham Pope, attributed many carpets made by Armenians to Persians.
“In 1930s Pope said there was absolutely no proof that Armenians ever wove carpets,” says Arto, “and it became the norm. He went to Anatolia, where there were no Armenians living at that time. Armenians were expelled by then and the Turkish government brought Kurds from Iraq to populate the area. So, he saw no Armenians there, so there is no proof that they ever wove carpets. Many other scholars, like German scholar Erdman also claimed that everything was woven by Turks. So, basically there are Persian and Turkic appropriation.”
Going after the Truth: “A broken Nation” that needs to bring the pieces together
Then, in search for the truth, Arto accidentally encountered a book written by a German art historian – Volkmar Gantzhorn, who made a very brave claim in his book “The Christian Oriental Carpet” in 1992.
“Gantzhorn attributed most rugs or at least their design to Armenians,” he says, “According to him the Armenian art had been stolen by the conquerors who then attributed it to themselves.”
This made Arto to dig even deeper gradually uncovering the truth for himself – the story of the Armenian rug-making is the story of exiles of his Nation.
“Gantzhorn ideas were not very well accepted in 1990s, as the rug scholarship was completely focused on Islam and Turkic art. They thought that all these rugs had Turkic designs and that these types of elements come from the 11th century when Turks entered Anatolia. They believed that was when the rug-making started in Anatolia. But it is not true at all.”
Later on, Arto encounters another publication by an English scholar R.F. Sergeant “Islamic textiles until the Mongol age”. The British historian brings many quotes from Arab historians, where they mention Armenian rug production from 8th to the 13th century. As stated in those quotes, armenian carpets were one of the best, and they were woven in and around Armenia.
“Turks or Seljuks are mentioned only once or twice in that book,” Arto says.
Then Arto discovered a book called “Armenian Ornamental Art” by Armen Kyurkchyan, Hrair Hawk Khatcherian. It showed in detail the motifs on Armenian churches and manuscripts which were similar to the motifs on antique carpets.
“I could see that the motifs of those nakhshs – the ornaments were very similar to those in the rugs. This book was very important to me. It showed some close-ups and variations of some typical Armenian motifs from the 9th, 10th century that I could see on the rugs from the 18th century and the 19th century.”
Tavukciyan could then find many more historical sources.
“I found that Armenian illustrative manuscripts are a very rich resource for the motifs that we see on carpets today,” he says, “and this has been ignored by the rug scholarship. Probably many different factors worked why they have attributed Armenian rugs to Islam.
“But once I started doing research everything changed for me,” Arto recalls, “Now, I understand that the story of the Armenian rug is the story of the Armenian forced migration. Everywhere where Armenians were sent something new emerged in the rugs, new design. I used to think that Armenians became a Diaspora only in 1915, but as I researched, I realized that we have been a Diaspora since 5th, 6th century.”
For example, at the beginning of the 6th century there were the Sassanids, Byzantines. The Byzantines were trying to pull the Armenians to their side, to Cappadocia. And many Armenians went to Cappadocia, that is where the Cappadocian carpets started. The Sassanids then sent Armenians to Egypt, because they had conquered Egypt.
“That is why we have very old fragments known as ‘Fustat’ in the museums from the 5th and 6th century,” Arto explains, “some people believe those were Coptic pieces, but Sergeant says “no, Armenians made these!. The Armenian people taken by the Sassanids to Egypt made them.” Then in the 7th century Arabs came, they removed many Armenians to Cairo to build their mosques, because Armenians were builders.”
Between the 10th and 12th century during the period of the Fatimid empire, for over 200 years the Islam converted Armenian Viziers ran Cairo. At that time there were 100,000 Armenians in Cairo, and 30 churches. And many more Armenians came to Cairo after Seljuk invasion of Anatolia, Armenian [migrants] came here because Egypt was governed by Armenians. During this period Cilicia was also formed and thrived until 14th century.
“In Cilicia, they were producing very beautiful rugs and textiles,” Arto states, “and then the Mamluks invaded and destroyed Cilicia in 1375. And Armenians from Scevra and Hromkla moved all those artists to Cairo, and that’s where a particular rug started, called the Cairene rug, a very beautiful rug.”
“Then in 1400s Tamerlane conquered Armenia and moved 120,000 people including 60,000 from the Caucasus, many of which were Armenian craftsmen to Samarkand to build his city. Historian Thomas of Metsoph recorded this in his book. The Spanish ambassador to Timur’s court, De Clavijo also confirmed this.
“And those were mainly the artists that produced art for Timur,” Arto explains further, “that’s why when you look at Timurid art, it looks very much alike the Armenian manuscripts.”
Then, in the 15th century when the Turks captured Constantinople, they resettled many Armenian artisans and among them goldsmiths from Van, (situated now in Eastern Turkey) to Istanbul to create jewelry for the Sultan. In 1514, Sultan Selim captured Tabriz and removed 3000 Armenian artisans from Tabriz to resettle in Istanbul. In 1517 Selim conquered Egypt and relocated 500 Armenian artisans from Cairo to Istanbul.
“And something new happened here,” Arto recalls, “a new type of rug emerged then, called the Ottoman medallion rugs. That’s is when all appeared.”
And the last migration of Armenian carpet-makers that Arto mentioned happened in 1604, when Shah Abas of Iran uprooted 300,000 Armenians from Nakhijevan to resettle in Isfahan. And that’s when and the Safavid carpets began to be produced.
“So, every time there was a forced migration, something new emerged,” Tavukciyan concludes.
Armenians – the Catalysts of Culture in the Middle East
“But I am not saying those rugs were purely Armenian,” Tavukciyan highlights, “Every time we were in new environments and we were the catalysts, we were the agents of change. We created something new from that environment. So, basically, as I said, the story of the rugs is the story of the Armenian migration. But there is the second thing, too. The story of the rugs is also a story of Armenian survival. We were very useful to our conquerors, because we were craftsmen, artists, artisans – so, we have survived. And of course, all our art, everything that we have created, they took ownership of.”
Arto stresses that this is the main premise of the book he is currently working on. He embarked on this activity encouraged largely by his FB followers.
“I will show a lot of visual evidence there,” he promises, “Just like the snakes here,” he shows the symbols on the rugs, “I have hundreds of examples of different things that come from Armenians and that have been appropriated by not only Turks but also Persians and incorporated into their arts. But I am going to remind them those things.”
“When two Armenians meet…”
As he recalls, even though the rug scholarship after 1915 eliminated Armenians from the history, things began to change in 1970s when the Armenian Rug Society was founded in California.
“They were dealers who got together, they started doing exhibitions and producing a few books as well. But still scholarship did not take all these seriously until 1990s when Gantzhorn’s book came out where he said everything that was woven in Turkey was mostly Armenian.”
Paying Tribute to the Great Scholar
Arto says that Gantzhorn was laughed at by rug scholarship in 1990s, but he had some great revelations in his book that served as a torchlight for Tavukciyan:
“He has been a great inspiration for me, no doubt. He was the first guy who really understood where the roots of rug design come from. But he did not have all the facilities that I have today. I can see almost every rug in every museum online. Although Gantzhorn did research at Matenadaran (a large repository of ancient manuscripts situated in Yerevan), he did not have access to the entire digital collection in 1990s like I have today. So, that’s my advantage and I am going to use it.”
Arto thinks that now he can see the bigger picture which will allow him to bring the pieces together.
“Today I went to Matenadaran and a very old manuscript that I saw today was from 1057 called Gospel of Melita, Malatia. I noticed some incredible things. I saw a rug in the headpiece of a manuscript that had two facing serpents – օձ (snakes in Armenian) – and there is a thing in between. This symbol is on so-called Seljuk rugs which are in the Turkish museum, that are supposed to be from the 13th century, but I think that belongs to an earlier period, but they are all attributed to Turks. And everyone believes that that border was pseudo-Kufic, sort of an Arabic writing, but that is not true at all. Now facing serpents with an object in between, usually it is a cross, what does that remind you? Մերին հայկական տեր-հայրերուն գավազանը․ [author’s note: the upper part of the clergymen’s wand usually depicted in the form of snake heads] It could have been made both for the church and homes, it was meant to protect the interior.”
Social Media – a Tool to Educate People and Fight for Rights
“Now, as I have done a lot of research, I have over 10 thousand followers on Facebook and Instagram. I always post things on FB (and people like it) about certain symbols and tie them to the rugs and show that it is not Islam or Turkic element, it is a part of the Armenian culture.”
When Arto first began writing about Armenian rugs on Facebook, he noticed there wasn’t much interest in carpets among Armenians.
“Yes, they knew Armenians wove, but how far back does it go? – they didn’t know the answer, they didn’t care much about it either. But now, after 5 years of educating, I see a lot of people are interested, especially young people. When I am showing a matching Armenian manuscript, then, all of a sudden, the light appears, I can see that young people are interested in carpets now. And I can see them buying carpets, too.”
“There are professional rug groups on FB, there are huge fights going on in social media,” Arto recalls, “When I first joint professional rug groups, there weren’t any Armenian voices, it was just myself arguing against Turks and Azeris, but now there are lots of people fighting against them, lots! I am very happy for that, and I would like to take a bit of credit for that, a bit for credit, because people have started to get interested in rugs. And it is really important to get involved in the protection of your identity in social media.”
Moreover, Tavukciyan takes quiet satisfaction in seeing many foreigners have changed their views on the origins of rugs.
“There was a rug collector from Norway, Petter Andreas Haug who has a huge collection of rugs. When I first mentioned to him that a rug [he displayed] does not belong to Azeris, but to Armenians, he blogged me for almost two years. He could somehow see my posts in some sites though. Eventually, he unblocked me, and we started talking a lot. His entire collection now has changed, he is now 180 degrees different – where it is Armenian, he says it’s Armenian.”
Reflecting on Pressing Issues and Their Solutions
Tavukciyan thinks that there is still much to be done to get to the minds of the rich Armenians how important it is to obtain good old Armenians rugs that appear on the world auctions.
“As we are not very good buyers, the auctions, where the Turks and the Azeris are buying these historic rugs, will obviously cater to them, and the rug scholars will cater to them, too, because that is where the money is coming from. If Armenians are not buying their own art, you see, that’s a big problem.”
Tavukciyan thinks there are several fundamental issues that the state has to take care of, as rugs are important part of Armenian cultural heritage. And the first pressing issue is to establish a large museum for rugs.
“We don’t have a large museum like the Azeris do, and their collection is mostly made of Armenian rugs,” he laughs, “I always say the best Armenian museum of rugs is in Baku.”
According to Arto, the current collection in Armenia is split mainly between the history museum and the folk museum. There are two large rug businesses that contribute greatly to heritage collections – the Tufenkian and Megerian carpets.
“Tufenkian has been involved in rugs production for a long time, they have been producing rugs in Nepal, Tibet, and recently in Armenia but interestingly the owner has been seriously into collecting rugs within the last five years only,” Tavukciyan says,” He [author’s note: the owner] wants to build a great collection of Armenian rugs now, because he is like me, he understands that those rugs were Armenian and we have to buy them.”
Tavukciyan thinks Armenia needs to buy back what truly belongs to it – “better and older rugs, more historical rugs”, which can be found in Auctions.
“Incredible rugs are still being sold in auctions,” he says, “because collectors eventually die and their collections go to auctions. All these things should be organized by the state.”
Arto’s voice turns resolute:
“Why is this important to realize? Turkey and Azerbaijan want to deny that Armenians wove rugs. Rug-weaving was an important factor in the region. If you deny that Armenians wove rugs, that means Armenians were not part of that region. This is their whole political strategy. What they claim is that Armenians never wove rugs, they came only in the 19th century – some crazy things! So, rugs are more important than anyone believes they are.”
To the question whether he thinks appropriation of art pieces is an element of genocide, Tavukciyan responded:
“Yes, it is a secondary proof. It is genocide. First you annihilate people, then you take over their culture.”
This interview was made possible through the kind support of Woolway and its founder, Hayk Oltaci.
By Mariam Chakhoyan
