Description
Semi-Antique Gendje Rug, 40″ x 75″ (D0193)
Background Information:
Gendje (Ganja) is the second largest city in Azerbaijan. Gendje is located between the weavings areas of Karabagh, Kazak and Shirvan and has also been a collection point for rugs from surrounding areas.
Both Armenian Rugs and Azeri Rugs have come from Ganja Province. Ganja was a Persian Azeri city under the Persian Shah’s control before the Russian occupation. There as a minority but significant Armenian population controlled by the Melik of Ganja. When the Russian Czarist troop solidified control over the city it was renamed Elisavetspol and it quickly became a Russianized city. Since the Armenian Church and Meliks were Christian and were instrumental in defeating the Persians the Armenians gained immensely in stature. Armenians began to move to Ganja from Safavid Persia and Ottoman Turkey. Ganja became a staging area for the war that led to the Russian triumph over the Persians in Erevan/Yerevan/Present Day Armenia in 1828. Today there are few Armenians in the Province of Ganja.
- Situated on the main highway and rail line to Georgia. The city, considered the country’s literary center, is prettier than most Azerbaijani towns and retains a strong German influence in its architecture. The road from Baku to Ganja is one of the country’s most scenic. 180 mi/290 km west of Baku.
- Ganja was both a city, a market center, and a Khanate. Under Czarist domination the name was changed to Elisavetpol and then Kirovabad.
- Gendge produces rug that are in format and construction like a long Kazak
- The town of Gendje was called Elizabethpol under the Russian Tsars and is now known a Kirovabad, the principal town in Russian Azerbaijan.
