Pirot carpet

Overview

Carpet weaving in Pirot dates back to the Middle Ages. One of the first mentions of the Pirot kilim in written sources date to 1565, when it was said that the šajkaši boats on the Danube and Drava were covered with Pirot kilims.

Pirot was once the most important rug-making centre in the Balkans. Pirot is located on the historical main highway which linked central Europe with Constantinople. An interesting characteristic of some Pirot style carpets is the inscription of the Serbian or Bulgarian weaver and the year in which the carpet was weaved.

Today many classical examples of Pirot kilims can be found throughout Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, and in many other international collections. One of the chief qualities are the effects achieved through the choice and arrangement of colours. In the beginning of the 19th century plant dyes were replaced by aniline colourings.

From Pirot's old Turkish signification as Şarköy stems the traditional trade name of the rugs as Şarköy-kilims. Stemming from the homonym to the present-day Turkish settlement of Şarköy in Thrace, which had no established rug making tradition, Şarköys are often falsely ascribed to originate from Thrace. Also in the rug selling industry, Şarköy are mostly labeled as being of oriental or Turkish origin as to easier sell them to non familiar customers as they prefer rug with putative oriental origin. In fact, Şarköys have been established from the 17th century in the region of the Western Balkan or Stara Planina mountains in the towns of Pirot, Berkovitsa, Lom, Chiprovtsi and Samokov. Later they were also produced in Knjaževac and Caribrod.

Cultural organizations

• Association "Grlica"
• "Association of Preserving and Development of [the] Pirot Carpet", founded 1995
• "Pirot Carpet Cooperative" or "Pirot Carpet Zadruga", founded 1902
• "Damsko srce"

Collections

;Serbian

• The Ethnographic Museum (Belgrade), has a small collection of carpets on display.
• The Museum of Applied Art has a valuable collection of ca. 120 carpets from Pirot, dating to the late 18th to the mid-20th century.

;International

• British Museum (2 rugs, as of 2013)

Ornaments

Pirot kilims with some 122 ornaments and 96 different types have been protected by geographical indication in 2002.

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Gallery

File:Pirotski Cilim Serbian traditinal carpet.JPG|Pirot rug Venci File:Piroter Kelim 1.jpg|Scheme of a Pirot rug File:Pirot rug - Pirotski cilim - Sarkoy kilim.jpg|Scheme of the Razbacani đulovi type File:Kelim 2.jpg|Scheme of the Bombe u pregradama type. Ornaments at the border are called kornjača (turtle). File:Pirotski cilim bombe u pregradama.png|bombe u pregradama File:Bosanska šara Pirot kilim.jpg|Bosanska šara

Notable people

• Darinka Petković (1868–1932), sister of merchant Kosta Petković

Annotations

References

Sources

• Peter Bausback, 1983: Kelim. antike orientalische Flachgewebe. Klinkhardt & Biermann, München.
• Marina Cvetković, 2008: Игра шарених нити : колекција пиротских h̄илима Етнографског музеја у Београду (The Play of Varicolored filaments - collection of the Pirot Kilims in the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade). Ethnografski muzej u Beogradu, Belgrad.
• Alastair Hull & José Luczyc-Wyhowska, 1993: Kilim - the complete guide: History, pattern, technique, identification. Thames and Hundson, London.
• Yanni Petsopulos, 1980: Der Kelim. Prestel Verlag, München.
• Dobrila Stojanović, 1987: Пиротски ћилими (Pirotski ćilimi). Muzejske zbirke VIII, Museum of Applied Arts (Muzej primenjene umetnosti), Belgrad.
• (not used)

References

1. Ministry of Culture and Information. "List of elements of intangible cultural heritage of the Republic of Serbia".
2. Bratislava Idvorean Stefanovic. "Serbian Carpet Weaving in connection with Oriental kilim".
3. Pirotski Ćilim - Lepota Trajanja
4. "Suveniri Srbije - Pirotski ćilim".
5. Museum of Applied Art, Belgrade. "Textile collection (3/10)".
6. (1889). "The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, Volume 67". J. W. Parker and Son.
7. Palairet, M.R.. (2003). "The Balkan Economies C.1800-1914: Evolution Without Development". Cambridge University Press.
8. {{citation. (1953)
9. link. (2009)
10. (1915). "The National Geographic Magazine, Volume 27".
11. "British Museum, search query "Pirot"".