Vestnikkavkaza.net - Full Article24 October 2014 - 1:23pm
By Turkmenistaninfo.ru
The All-Russian Decorative Art Museum has invited Moscow residents and guests to see a unique Turkmen carpet, the only show-piece at the exhibition. The carpet named “Endurance Riding” was made at the Ashkhabad Carpet Factory in 1937 and dedicated to events of the endurance riding of Turkmen equestrians from Ashkhabad to Moscow in 1935. Organizers of the exposition had every reason to create the exhibition of just one show-piece, the story of the carpet and the events related to it have no analogies in history.
A group of Akhal-Teke and Yomut horse riders left Ashkhabad and headed to Moscow in the summer of 1935. Thirty riders travelled 4,300km in 84 days. They travelled 350km through Karakumy, the Ustyurt Plateau, the crossing of the Kazakh steppes, the Russian forest zones.
The rally had military goals: cavalry was still part of the armed forces then, the endurance and strength of Turkmen horses needed testing. All the participants of the rally succeeded. The Akhal-Teke horses proved their endurance and reliability. Newspapers then had proof of the joyful meeting of equestrians in the capital of the country. Moscow residents were waiting for them at the Abelmanovskaya Zastava, forming a line along the street. People threw flowers to the riders.
The participants of the rally became national heroes. No wonder they were chosen as the story for the carpet made by talented Turkmen weavers using designs of the artist A. Savostin.
77 years later, staff of the All-Russian Decorative Art Museum decided to show the unique Turkmen carpet to the public. The carpet had never been demonstrated to Russians before. It was only seen at the 1939 New York World Fair...
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http://vestnikkavkaza.net/articles/culture/61374.html
