Ottoman-era Hereke carpet to be restored in Istanbul

A Hereke Carpet, weaved in 1897 at the request of Sultan Abdulhamit II, is restored by the Directorate of National Palaces in Istanbul, Turkey on August 19, 2020. 123 years old Hereke carpet covers an area of 468 square meters. 70% of the carpet’s restoration has been completed [Onur Çoban/Anadolu Agency]

The historic Hereke carpet will be restored in Istanbul in accordance with the protocol signed between the Carnegie Foundation which manages the Peace Palace in The Hague, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkiye, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The Ottoman Empire presented the carpet, measuring 161.5 square meters (1,738 square feet) and weighing over 700 kilograms (1,543 pounds), to the Peace Palace in 1911, serving as the International Court of Justice and the Permanent Court of Arbitration, located in The Hague, the Netherlands.

The removal ceremony of the carpet from the Japanese Room at the Peace Palace was attended by Selcuk Unal, the Turkish ambassador in The Hague; Pinar Bilgen Ermis, the Culture and Promotion Counsellor; Erik Weststrate, European Director responsible for Turkiye, and Jan Pieter Hendrik Donner, the Director of the Carnegie Foundation.

“For over a century, the Hereke carpet, gifted in 1911, has witnessed countless end significant peace agreements and negotiations,” Unal said during the removal ceremony of the carpet – a Turkish-Dutch friendship.

“The historical support of our ancestors with a foreseeing vision for international peace carries an important message for us today,” he added.

The Carnegie Foundation stated that, once the restoration is finished, the carpet will return to the palace.

The entire restoration process is being documented by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Dutch Embassy in Ankara.

READ: New Museum of Islamic Civilisations set to open Friday in Turkiye’s largest mosque

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.