#Azerbaijani carpet

[turkicculture]

Azerbaijani carpet

[ugysenemez]

Metaszőnyeg: a szőnyegszövést ábrázoló szőnyeg amin épp egy szőnyegszövést ábrázoló szőnyeget szőnek...

Baku, Heydar Aliyev Múzeum

[vintagesouthkavkaz]

Azerbaijani Muslim carpet sellers in Tbilisi, Georgia, ca. 1900. By Dmitry Ermakov.

[thebotanicalarcade]

BOTEH

A leaflike shape or stylized teardrop that became known as paisley in the West. Persian for bush or cluster of leaves, boteh may be highly detailed or simple, and the motif often appears in the field of a rug, forming an overall pattern.

From wikipedia:

The boteh (Persian: بته), is an almond or pine cone-shaped motif in ornament with a sharp-curved upper end. Though of Persian origin, it is very common and called buta in India, Azerbaijan, Turkey and other countries of the Near East. Via Kashmir shawls it spread to Europe at least in 19th century, where patterns using it are known since 1960s as paisleys, as Paisley, Renfrewshire in Scotland was a major centre making them.

Some design scholars believe the boteh is the convergence of a stylized floral spray and a cypress tree: a Zoroastrian symbol of life and eternity. The "bent" cedar is also a sign of strength and resistance but modesty. The floral motif was originated in the Sassanid dynasty and later in the Safavid dynasty of Persia (1501–1736), and was a major textile pattern in Iran during the Qajar and Pahlavi dynasties.

[yuri-alexseygaybitch]

Hope liberals will start putting the Armenian flag on their porches and sending money to help Armenians buy missile launchers and the EU will roll out the red carpet to Armenian refugees fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh and Vahagn Khachaturyan will get a glossy Vogue cover spread and get invited to speak in front of Congress and Armenian intellectuals will get invited to universities to give lectures on Azerbaijani colonialism only of course that won't happen because who cares if it's not a conflict the US and NATO have an investment in winning

[itsblasttothepast]

Since most press and F1 pages hate Checo, he barely gets acknowledged when he gets nice things or others actually think he deserves praise. So I'll share this that made my heart swoon and be so happy for pookie.

Today it was posted that Checo got a gift in Azerbaijan:

Translation:

HONOR THE KING OF BAKU WITH AN AUTHENTIC WORK OF ART!

The traditional Dragon carpet was given to Checo Pérez, in tribute to his victories on the Baku circuit.

"I present to you the unique reinterpretation of the traditional Dragon rug, which combines centuries-old symbolism of Azerbaijani culture with modern design"

"This piece is made even more special by incorporating the colors of the Mexican flag with a tribute to Sergio Pérez's victory in Baku. A fusion of history and personal history, this unique design brings meaning and beauty to any space"

It was a high honor, unfortunately still got hate comments, I can't believe people!

Anyway, this is so nice, he totally deserves it, and tomorrow when he wins for the third time, it will be amazing!

Video: Here and Here

[bobemajses]

Carpet by Rami Meir showing Azerbaijani Mountain Jewish carpet weavers.

[optikestrav]

Azerbaijani National Carpet Museum, Baku (2019)

[lydiablackblade]

What I need today to cope with the S2 ending #1.

Today I want to see that everyone on Whickber Street is silently and in mutual understanding teamed up to support Crowley after Aziraphale had left.

He is not a daily guest anymore but he pops up time to time to do a quick check on the bookshop and on Muriel.

And when he does, Nina makes sure he always gets his shots of espresso and never let him go without it. Sometimes she offers different kind of roasts just to "survey".

Maggie recommends him small indie rock bands he might not know and she even gives him CDs so he can listen to them in the Bentely (only for him, she still sells vinly for the customers)

Mr Arnold invites him to his jazz band's gigs (they are playing quite good, tho) and as fellow Dr. Who enthusiasts sometimes they have a long conversation about how the Tardis works (Crowley knows it better anyway)

When Crowley is at Nina's, Mrs Sandwich comes over, sits to his table and shares every saucy gossip from the neighborhood whispering loud enough to let everyone hear them. She even manages to make him some sort of smile sometimes. Even some snores.

Mrs Cheng regularly invites him to her restaurant to eat with her family. (He rather drinks than eat, but still. And he'd never admit but he likes how the Cheng family shares the food with each other)

When he "dines" at the Marguerite's (I mean ordering something and stare at it then go for the alcohol) - Justine makes sure he always get an extra glass of wine and let him sit all night at the table until they close just brooding and playing with the utensils.

Mutt and his spouse managed tempting him once participating to one of their classic D&D game nights with their friends. It was a rather good evening but miraculously the dice was always in Crowley's favor somehow.

Even Mr. Brown of Brown's World of Carpets tried to have a small talk with him at the pub. Although he still doesn't know if Crowley was an escort or sugar boy (too old to be called boy honestly) who grew attached to his client too much or if he's a mob member or what was the real nature of his relationship to the former bookshop owner with whom he was seemingly glued together, but he thought he knows the feeling very well ghosted by Mr Fell, so why cannot he give comfort this poor fellow? After two minutes of trying to have conversation he practically run away from the pub bumping into tables and customers in panic. Nobody knows for sure what happened, all they saw was the ginger goth pushed back his shades to his nose and someone sweared he had heard hisses and a saw sudden flick of change of Crowley's face to something monstrous, but he was drunk already so no one believed him.

And for Crowley's utter surprise, once when he killed the time in St. James's Park, the Azerbaijani Sector Chief dropped a big bag of frozen peas next to him to feed the ducks and gave him a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder then moved on without a word. The human of course had no idea what had happened, all he knew this person now sits alone on the bench radiating sorrow without the blond man next to him. He lost comrades during his many years of service, so he could recognize the signs. "That's the nature of our profession buddy, but you'll be alright" he messaged with his act.

And Crowley honestly doesn't understand why everyone is so kind to him.

[s-c-kh]

Early 20th century Azerbaijani carpet

[amielbjacobs]

So I'm dying to ask. What's your research process? Mine is an absolute mess and I'm looking for ideas about how to fix that - @coffeewritesfiction (which is a sideblog)

Oooh, I love this question! I don't have a very organized process, but I have to say that the research was my favorite part of writing Spymasters. I started out with like, 0 knowledge of the KGB in particular - and not a whole lot of knowledge about the CIA either - so my first order of business in trying to imagine what Mirsky's life would have been like was reading a memoir by a former KGB officer.

I specifically wanted a memoir by a defector, not because I wanted insight into the specific experiences of defectors (although these are also fascinating) but because I suspected that any other KGB officer would be at best biased and at worst producing active propaganda. (For what it's worth, I am also suspicious of writing by CIA/FBI officers who aren't on bad terms with the agencies. Even outside of the world of espionage, a lot of people aren't eager to badmouth their former employers.) I'm not sure quite how I settled on Oleg Gordievsky's memoir Next Stop Execution, but it might have been that I landed on the Wikipedia page List of KGB Defectors, and picked Gordievsky off of there.

This was in line with my usual first line of approach to research: even when a memoir leaves you with a warped view of history, it usually leaves you with a believable and personal view of history, if that makes sense. There are details; if you're not sure what to invent, you can fall back on this specific person's experience. Secondary sources, especially ones which are more history than sociology, often don't include the kind of specific detail (what color were the carpets? what kind of pens did they us? what did the air smell like?) that's necessary as a writer. So I try to find a real person who matches my characters' life and read their memoir.

There were also broader social aspects of Mirsky's life that I wanted to know more about: his experiences as a queer man in Stalinist Russia, his identity as a brown-skinned man from a Muslim immigrant background within the USSR, and his interests as a Russian-speaking fan of spy fiction. I did a lot of googling "gay USSR" "gay USSR book" etc. The wikipedia page "Azerbaijanis in Russia" was a good starting point here. I wasn't able to find a direct memoir (in English) by an Azerbaijani person living in Soviet Russia, although I tried to track down the memoir of this guy. (Probably I missed something?) At the time, I also wasn't able to find a memoir by a queer man in the early USSR, though I've since found some stuff along those lines.

I read Homosexual Desire in Revolutionary Russia as a text on queer experiences in the USSR, although it cuts off before the key point where my story is set. For the experiences of Azerbaijani people in Soviet Russia, I read Voices from the Soviet Edge: Southern Migrants in Leningrad and Moscow, which was pretty well exactly what I needed in terms of understanding how Mirsky would and wouldn't be racialized within the USSR. Ironically, given the lack of censorship, the topic of Soviet spy fiction was maybe the hardest to research.

I generally start out by googling things, then reading articles and academic papers available online (legally or illegally), and then if that doesn't give me what I want, I look up a book.

I only wound up buying two books (the aforementioned Next Stop Execution and The Soviet Spy Thriller by Duccio Columbo). For all of the others, I was either able to get them online for free or through my local public library.

For online resources, I want to shout out Archive.org as a resource which is free, expansive, and probably legal. There are two particular online resources which are similarly free and expansive, but cannot be called legal.

For the public library, a lot of the texts I wanted (obscure, out-of-print memoirs & expensive academic textbooks) weren't in their catalog. However, through the Inter-Library Loan system, I was able to get almost any book I wanted, albeit at a significant delay.

I think that's my process: google the topic, look for memoirists who mirror your character's life experiences, utilize your local library.

Oh yeah, also instead of taking notes like an adult, I take a photo with my phone or a screenshot on my computer, and then I cram them all into a private discord server.

Uhhhhh there's probably other nuances, but it's midnight thirty here and I can't think of them. I would love more asks on this topic if anyone has any other questions!

[flairyourtrip]

This is how you will explore Baku in 5 days with Flairyourtrip

ITINERARY:

Day 1: Explore the Old City Morning: Begin your day at the iconic Baku Boulevard for a picturesque view of the Caspian Sea. Visit the Flame Towers, a modern symbol of Baku. Afternoon: Head to the UNESCO-listed Old City (Icherisheher) and explore historical landmarks like the Maiden Tower and Shirvanshah’s Palace. Enjoy local Azerbaijani cuisine in one of the charming cafes. Evening: Stroll through the cobbled streets of the Old City at sunset. Capture stunning photographs of the Flame Towers illuminated at night.

Day 2: Modern Baku Morning: Visit Heydar Aliyev Center, a masterpiece of contemporary architecture. Explore the Baku Modern Art Museum. Afternoon: Have lunch at a local restaurant with a view of the Flame Towers. Visit the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum to appreciate traditional Azerbaijani craftsmanship. Evening: Experience the vibrant nightlife at Fountain Square. Dine at a rooftop restaurant for panoramic city views.

Day 3: Gobustan National Park Morning: Head to Gobustan National Park to explore ancient rock carvings and mud volcanoes. Learn about Azerbaijan’s prehistoric history at the Gobustan State Historical and Artistic Museum. Afternoon: Have a picnic lunch in the picturesque landscapes of Gobustan. Return to Baku and relax at the hotel. Evening: Enjoy a leisurely dinner at a local restaurant.

Day 4: Absheron Peninsula Morning: Explore Ateshgah (Fire Temple), a historical and architectural monument. Visit Yanar Dag, a natural gas fire which has been burning for centuries. Afternoon: Have lunch at a seaside restaurant on the Absheron Peninsula. Relax at one of the nearby beaches or visit the Bibi-Heybat Mosque. Evening: Return to Baku and explore the local markets for souvenirs.Dinner at a traditional Azerbaijani restaurant.

Day 5: Day Trip to Sheki Morning: Take a morning flight or drive to Sheki, a charming city surrounded by mountains. Visit Sheki Khans’ Palace, renowned for its exquisite stained glass windows. Afternoon: Have lunch at a local restaurant. Explore Sheki’s Old City and visit the Sheki History Museum. Evening: Return to Baku and spend your last evening shopping for local crafts and souvenirs.

[scleracentipede]

content warning: brief mention of suicide and death

This is a meant as a memorial piece for İsa Şahmarlının, a prominent LGBT activist in Azrbaijan, featuring some of his final words he posted on Facebook before his suicide at age 20 on January 22nd 2014

“bu dünya menim rəngəlerim daliya bileceq qədər güçlü değil” / “This world is not colorful enough to accept my color too.”

I think about İsa often as queer Azerbaijani person who left Azerbaijan in part for safety from the homophobia and transphobia of the country. I want to remind people of him or teach people of him for the first time.

İsa’s work continues with the group he found @azadlgbti (meaning Free LGBTI) and his dream lives on through them and everyone else fighting for LGBT+ rights across the global.

I wanted to showcase İsa’s colours in this piece and set it against some traditional Azeri carpet pattern to remind people that queer Azerbaijani people are and always will be part of our culture regardless of what bigots think

Qəbrin nurla dolsun, İsa!

[vintagesouthkavkaz]

Azerbaijani Qazax region carpet from the late 19th century.

[dato-georgia-caucasus]

Dmitri Yermakov - Azerbaijani Carpet Market in Tiflis, Georgia

[auressea]

oh- hey! you can browse the collection!

National Carpet Museum, Baku, Azerbaijan