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Arak |
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The central province and its capital Arak
(former Sultan-Abad) is one of the most important carpet
producing centres in Iran.
The carpet weaving in this area dates back to the time when
Shah-Abbas the Great, gave his consent for the settling of a
group of Armenians in that area. Among them there were many
skilled weavers, but the main progress occurred during the
reign of the Gajrtr dynasty. The basic reasons for the
development of the carpet weaving industry was due to the
fact that many merchants from Azarbaijan invested
conspicuous sums of money for supplying and exporting
carpets to the German markets.
Moreover, many foreign companies opened branches in Arak,
for business enterprises and exportation purposes. The most
famous of them was an English firm, Ziegler, which
established workshops and installed looms (in 1883 in Sultan
for producing carpets according to the demand of the
European market.
After the defeat of the Germans and their allies in the
First World War, Arak lost most of its best customers.
Soon after that, the economic crisis in America (1929) and
its extension to almost all parts of the world caused a
grave setback in the carpet industry in Iran. This decline
continued even during the Second World War.
Fortunately, after a very short period, with the effort and
support of a great number of Persian capitalists this art
regained its activity once again. The reason for the changes
resulting from these wars and the depression was that the
foreign companies, were forced to close their branches in
Iran.
It became necessary for them to transact their business
activities through Persian merchants, who themselves turned
over the orders to the local capitalists in different
regions of Iran.
Most of the carpets woven in Arak are of medium quality but
there are some valuable Sarugh and Farahan carpets that are
highly regarded by buyers and collectors. The colours used
for these carpets are mostly herbaceous. Except for Farahan
carpets, all the others woven in the area of Arak have
Senneh knots. In this locality it is almost rare to find
fraudulent knots (ghreh-jofti). The wool of the Arak carpets
is of the best quality. The design of the carpets, which y
the way are very limited in this region, differs from region
to region. With the previous experience they had with
foreign companies, the carpet weavers in Arak always used
cartoons in the weaving process. Their sketches were usually
composed of branches and leaves with blue borders and a
rose-coloured background.
The carpet weaving centres of this province are as follows:
Sarugh, Tafresh, Farahan, Lilihan |
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