Farmecul Orientului în inima Transilvaniei. Covoare din patrimoniul Muzeului Național Brukenthal

Exhibition: The Charm of the Orient in the Heart of Transylvania. Carpets from the Heritage of the Brukenthal National Museum

Place: Brukenthal Palace, Hall of Columns, Great Square No. 4, Sibiu

Duration: 17.07 – 30.08.2026

Opening: Friday, July 17, 12:00 noon

Visiting schedule: Wednesday - Sunday, 10.00-18.00

Curators: Adrian Luca PhD, Alexandru Sonoc PhD, Brukenthal National Museum, Sibiu

External Collaborator: Ștefan Ionescu, an independent researcher, internationally acclaimed expert, and author specializing in the study of Oriental carpets.

 

Text provided by the exhibition curators:

The exhibition aims to capitalize on the results of research conducted over the past decade regarding the typology, chronology, and cultural-historical significance of the antique Anatolian carpets within the museum’s collection. It also highlights new attributions concerning modern Anatolian carpets and less-studied categories, such as Caucasian and Central Asian carpets, as well as Balkan kilims.

An important objective of the exhibition is to present the recent donations of Oriental carpets integrated into the museum's heritage. These include modern Anatolian carpets, Central Asian carpets and other textiles crafted in the kilim technique, alongside historical imitations of Oriental carpets produced in Romania or the Caucasus region. These pieces illustrate both a steady interest in Oriental textiles and the ongoing efforts to adapt and integrate their patterns into local production. 

The museum’s Oriental carpet collection originated from the need to preserve antique Anatolian carpets from the Saxon Evangelical churches of Transylvania. At the same time, its development reflects the growing interest of art historians and ethnographers in studying Oriental carpets, as well as Oriental and European kilims—an interest further stimulated by new interior design trends emerging in the final decades of the 19th century. 

These transformations favoured an intensified trade in antique carpets and the development of a new production style. While this new production continues to utilize the traditional ornamental repertoire, it introduces technical and aesthetic innovations. This process contributed to the revitalization of certain weaving centres in the Orient and a gradual shift toward industrial manufacturing, while concurrently transforming or even altering some local traditions. 

The exhibition narrative is complemented by reproductions of vintage photographs from the museum's collection and explanatory panels that contextualize the evolution and circulation of these textiles. The exhibition layout is structured into several thematic modules, organized according to the typology of the carpets on display.

Two decades have passed since the last major carpet exhibition organized at the Brukenthal National Museum. In this context, we consider it timely to organize a new exhibition that restores public attention to the artistic, historical, and cultural value of these remarkable decorative art objects, which stand as witnesses to centuries of trade exchanges, cultural contacts, and artistic influences between the Orient and the Occident.