TEHRAN -- The Persian Carpet Designs Exhibition was opened during a ceremony at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMCA) on Thursday.

The Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance for visual arts Mahmud Shaluii, the Iranian Academy of Arts secretary Bahman Namvar- Motlaq and artists attended the event.
Some 226 carpet designs are currently on display at the exhibition, which commemorates Iranian veteran artist Mohsen Mohseni.
At the ceremony, Mahmud Shaluii expressed his hope that holding such exhibitions would introduce traditional Persian arts to Iranians.
Modern Iranian art has its roots in traditional art. Iran is known throughout the world for its ancient art and Iranian artists use this motif in their artwork, Shaluii mentioned during the ceremony.
“Some of the designs on display date back 130 years. They were drawn on graph paper manually and sometimes the artists even drew the graph lines on paper by hand. Such designs demonstrate the efforts of our ancestors,” the secretary of the exhibit Mohammadali Rajabi mentioned.
The exhibit is cosponsored by the Iranian Academy of Arts, Iran’s National Carpet Center, the Carpet Museum of Iran and Iran Carpet Company.
The exhibit will run through December 15 at the museum.
Photo: People visit the Persian Carpet Designs Exhibition, which opened at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art on November 20, 2008. (Mehr/Shahabeddin Vajedi)