A ceremony devoted to the completion of the "Maiden Tower" Third International Art Festival was held

A ceremony devoted to the completion of the “Maiden Tower” Third International Art Festival was held at the Small Caravanserai in the Old City, May 19. First Lady of Azerbaijan, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva and Vice-president of the Foundation Leyla Aliyeva attended the ceremony.

With special contribution to dialogue among cultures, the “Maiden Tower” International Art Festival has been held since 2010 on the Heydar Aliyev Foundation’s initiative, and organisation support by the “Icherisheher” State Historical and Architectural Preserve Department, the Museum of Modern Art and the “Maiden Tower” Art Gallery. The Festival aimed at propagandizing the Maiden Tower, one of the oldest and world significance monuments of Azerbaijan. Over 30 well-known artists from 24 countries took part in this year’s art festival. Decorating small models of the Tower with patterns in their national styles, they have created a synthesis and mutual exchange of different cultures and traditions. Unlike other festivals, in order to draw peoples’ attention to the “Caucasian Five”, which is in danger of extinction, models of gazelles were created first time this year within the IDEA International Environmental Campaign, and decorated by artists that took part in previous years’ competitions and were considered to be friends of Azerbaijan. Among these works, works by Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva and Leyla Aliyeva received high appraisal by participants. Getting closely acquainted with works exhibited in the festival, Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva was informed by authors of the main ideas of the works.

Leyla Aliyeva delivered a speech at the event.

A video devoted to the “Maiden Tower” Third International Art Festival was demonstrated at the event. And another different aspect of this year’s festival was presentation of a video mapping on the Maiden Tower. At the closing ceremony of the Festival, colourful images were created on the Mayden Tower, by making projections of Maiden Tower models created during the previous festivals and conforming to the monument’s architecture.