Today there are more than 380 Ottoman ‘classical’ carpets in Transylvania. Together they comprise the most important corpus of Turkish textile art still surviving in Eastern Europe, a region that for centuries was part of the Ottoman Empire. These carpets also form the largest ensemble of rare Turkish rugs to have survived in exceptional condition anywhere in the world. Remarkably, despite their immense cultural importance, little research has been carried out on the Transylvanian collections and they remain largely unknown to the wider public. The carpets, many of them prayer rugs, date from the second half of the15th century to the second half of the 18th century, a time when Ottoman textile production was at its peak. They have survived mostly in the Lutheran Evangelical churches of the Transylvanian German (Saxon) minority, who lived side by side with the Romanian Orthodox and Hungarian reformed communities. To explain this complex and unique cultural phenomenon will be the purpose of this publication. A number of these rugs were first published by Emil Schmutzler, a collector and textile manufacturer from Brasov, who was a connoisseur of Transylvanian rugs. His monumental album, Altorientalische Teppiche in Siebenburgen, was published in Leipzig in 1933, in a limited edition of just 325 copies. This collectors’ dream album with 55 excellent illustrations has been the most important reference work for several generations of scholars. To mark the seventieth anniversary of the publication of Schmutzle’s book, our intention is to build on his study by publishing high quality photographs, updated information and textile analyses of more than 240 rugs from Transylvania. The complete collection of the Black Church in Brasov will be published for the first time, together with the most important rugs from the Evangelical Churches from Medias, Sighisoara, Rupea, Biertan, Sebes, Cilnic, Risnov, Richis, Cisnadie, from the National Brukenthal Museum in Sibiu, the National Museum of History of Transylvania in Cluj and the National Museum of Art in Bucharest. It is hoped that as well as fostering the preservation and restoration of Transylvania's important heritage, this new comprehensive study will encourage the exhibition of an increasing number of the finest quality rugs in the collections. CONTENTS OF THE BOOK Foreword by dr.dr.h.c. Christoph Klein, Bishop of the Evangelical Church C.A. of Romania I - Early Studies A short discussion of publications on the Turkish Rugs in Transylvania. II - Transylvania and the Turkish Rugs 1. Historical background 2. The Turkish rug trade and Transylvania. 3. Use of the Turkish rugs in Transylvania. III. - Typology of Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania Extensive fieldwork in Transylvania has made possible the establishing of a full and detailed database of all the ‘classical’ carpets; some very rare pieces will be discussed and published for the first time. IV. - Catalogue Colour illustrations of over 240 ‘classical’ Turkish rugs, many published for the first time, with 50 full page photographs including: ‘Ghirlandaio’, ‘Holbein’, Ushak, Selendi, ‘Lotto’, Double-niche ‘Transylvanian’, ‘Transylvanian’ Prayer rugs, Column Prayer rugs, etc. New non-perspectival photography was carried out inside the Churches. All the rugs were washed before being photographed. V. - The Rug Collections in Transylvania A short introduction to the main collections (Black Church in Brasov, Brukenthal Museum in Sibiu, the Parish Churches of Sighisoara, Medias, Biertan, Rupea), with illustrations and documentation relating to each church. To present a complete picture of this chapter of Transylvanian history, the Bistri†a collection will also be included. Appendix E. Schmutzler (biogr. notes) - Teodor Tuduc - Ottoman Carpets in The Romanian Principalities AUTHORS arch. Alberto Boralevi - Florence dr. Andrei Kertesz - Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu ing. Stefan Ionescu - Rome CONSULTANTS: arch. Alberto Boralevi (Italy) - Chief Consultant dr. Radu Ardevan - Cluj University - history of Transylvania Rodica Dinulescu (Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu) - textile analysis ing. Erwin Hellmann - History of the Saxon Churches dr. _erban Turcus (Romanian Embassy by the Holy See, Rome) - history of Transylvania EDITOR ing. Stefano Ionescu (Rome) - Promoter and co-ordinator of the project, owner of the copyright. The book will first be published in Italian, Romanian and English. At a later date it will also be published in German. The work is being supported by the following institutions: The Romanian Ministry of Culture and Cults The National Museum Brukenthal from Sibiu The Romanian Academy of Rome The Romanian Embassy by the Holy See The project also enjoys the approval of the Consistory of the Evangelic Churches of Romania. The book will be launched in October 2004 at the Romanian Academy in Rome.