TEHRAN – For millennia, Persian carpets have been admired worldwide for their intricate designs, lavish colors, and peerless craftsmanship.

Tens of Iranian cities and regions enjoy a global reputation in carpet weaving. However, such remarkable skill in Fars province was inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list in 2010 under the name “Traditional skills of carpet weaving in Fars.”

The history of carpet weaving in Fars is very long, and its exact date is not known. Historians point to the presence of carpets in Cyrus’ tomb during Alexander’s invasion of Iran.

The eighth-century AH was reportedly the peak of carpet weaving in the Fars region. In the ninth and tenth centuries, AH, with the presence of more Qashqai, Khamseh tribes, and other tribes in this province, carpet weaving flourished in this region. This art continued until the present and became one of the main features of this region.

Furthermore, the nomadic lifestyle has a direct impact on the use of elements of nature. People in this area created beauties and these beauties emerged in the Fars carpets gradually.

Nomadic weavers used various kinds of looms. For example, unlike many areas, the loom carpet in this area is mostly on the ground and horizontally so that it can be easily moved during migration.

Fars carpets usually have a mental design and are woven in pairs or with a rug. The first carpet is called the “order” carpet, and the carpet or rug is woven with the ordered rug with the help of its design or mentally inspired by the ordered carpet design.

Traditional motifs or patterns are often woven mentally and have a geometric structure. The most important feature of this type of Fars carpet is symmetry weaving. Fars Carpets are woven symmetrically with traditional motifs from their horizontal or vertical halves.

For weaving Fars carpets and rugs, according to the UN cultural body, wool for the carpets is shorn by local men in spring or autumn. The men then construct the carpet loom – a horizontal frame placed on the ground – while the women convert the wool into yarn on spinning wheels. The colors used are mainly natural: reds, blues, browns, and whites produced from dyestuffs, including madder, indigo, lettuce leaf, walnut skin, cherry stem, and pomegranate skin.

The ancient region of Fars also spelled Pars, or Persis, was the heart of the Achaemenian Empire (550–330 BC), which was founded by Cyrus the Great and had its capital at Pasargadae. Darius I the Great moved the capital to nearby Persepolis in the late 6th or early 5th century BC.

AFM