The Medina Gallery, located in Icherisheher in Baku, hosted an event dedicated to the Kalaghayi, an Azerbaijani women’s quadrangular headdress made from silk threads.

The event was organized by the NGO Arts Council Azerbaijan with the financial support of the World Crafts Council Europe. During the evening, the Azerbaijani kelaghayi, included in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage became the topic of discussions.

According to the deputy head of the NGO Arts Council Azerbaijan, representative of the World Crafts Council Europe in Azerbaijan Sona Guliyeva, the purpose of the event is to popularize and promote the art of kelaghayi.

“We want our youth to show even greater interest in kelaghayi, develop and promote this ancient craft. Our task is also to promote our traditions, national crafts, decorative and applied arts, so that more people learn about them in Europe,” noted Sona Guliyeva.

According to her, today many women have kalaghayi in their wardrobe and skillfully combine an ancient silk scarf with modern outfits.

Designer and author of “Yashadag” project Sabina Zulalova informed those present about the social project “YAŞADAQ. Ümid qanadları”. The goal of the project is to show the connection between the birth of girls and the transmission of cultural heritage.

According to her, the national scarf – kelaghayi – has accompanied a woman’s life path from time immemorial.

Felt and silk specialist Mahbuba Mammadova said that foreign guests visiting Azerbaijan show great interest in silk scarves.

“In my work, I decided to introduce innovation into the method of dyeing silk scarves. I use a relatively new technique that has been around for 20 years, and it’s called “eco-printing.” I dye our locally produced silks using this technique,” she said.