site.btaBulgarian Flat-Weaves Featured at Major International Conference in Istanbul

Bulgarian flat-weave carpets, kilims, were featured at a major international conference in Istanbul late last week. They were presented by Jacob van Beelen, a Bulgaria-based Dutch collector of old Bulgarian kilims. He talked to the kilim connoisseurs about the surprising diversity of East Balkan weaving in the Ottoman era: Sarkoy, Manastir and beyond.

Sarkoy and Manastir are the names by which old Bulgarian kilims are known among collectors.

It is the first time now that a paper on Eastern Balkan kilim weaving was accepted by the Academic Committee of the 15th edition of the conference. 

"I will talk about the branding of Sarkoy and Manastor kilims from Bulgaria. They are famous among collectors but there is a misunderstanding about where they come from," Van Beelen told BTA ahead of the International Conference on Oriental Carpets in Istanbul June 6-9.

He hopes that his presentation at ICOC XV in Istanbul will contribute to better attribution of Bulgarian kilims and more use of their place of origin (i.e. Chiprovtsi, Pirot, Kotel, Ludogore, Aytos, etc.).

His paper actually addressed four themes: the Bakamski type kilims from Chiprovtsi (the oldest type of documented Bulgarian kilims), Sarköy kilims (under this name old kilims from Chiprovtsi, Pirot and Samokov are internationally known and famous among collectors), the kilim and dye tradition of Kotel and Sliven, and Manastir kilims from the Ludogorie/Deliorman region and the Turkish villages north of Aytos.

The previous ICOC was held in Washington D.C. in 1918.

Van Beelen is arguably the largest collector of Bulgarian kilims. He has now embraced the mission of bringing about the creation of a Bulgarian national kilim museum to take good care of the Bulgarian kilim heritage and preserve it for the next generations.