How are maintained the Al-Kafeel Museum carpets?

Al-Kafeel Museum of Treasures and Manuscripts includes more than (1000) hand-woven carpets of various types and sizes, some of which are considered the finest and rarest carpets and date back to different periods of time. The museum’s staff make great effort to preserve them and to display them with an appearance befitting their historical value.

The head of the museum department, Mr. Sadiq Lazem Al-Zaidi, explained to Al-Kafeel Network: "The carpets and handwoven textures contained in the Al-Kafeel Museum are considered rare and not present in other museums, and this is an advantage that the Al-Kafeel Museum distinguished from others because the carpets are dedicated to the shrine of Aba Al-Fadl Al-Abbas (peace be upon him), and we have set up a specialized team to supervise all aspects of the maintenance work, documenting and preserving these pieces, in professional and accurate methods."

Adding: “The Carpets Unit of the al-Kafeel Museum of Treasures and Manuscripts of the al-Abbas's (p) Holy Shrine works on the maintenance and restoration of carpets using modern methods commensurate with the atmosphere in the country under the supervision of professional and specialized cadres.”

Indicating: £The most important feature of this unit is the mechanism of carpet storage, which is carried out in a scientific way in the museum's store, characterized by modern storage methods of luxury carpets. The storage process passes by several stages, including:

1. Installing the database for the piece (measurements, quality).
2. Cleaning the carpet from dust.
3. Providing each carpet with a special code called (barcode).
4. Using some natural materials repelling insects and rodents.
5. Rolling the carpet on a tube after wrapping it with a layer of aluminium and nylon.
6. Covering the carpet with linen cloth.”

It is noteworthy that the al-Kafeel Museum of the treasures and manuscripts is one of the first museums that opened at the holy shrines in Iraq, in 2009, coinciding with the birth anniversary of the Immaculate Lady Zaynab (peace be upon her). The museum contains a large number of valuables and antiques.