Where matchless pieces of art are knotted

Carpet making has been the craft of one generation after generation in some areas in Egypt.

However, this craft has evolved into an art form, in some places in this country, especially in Haraniya, a village of Giza, which is part of the Greater Cairo region.

This was probably why this village turned into a favourite travel spot for a large number of foreigners, including celebrities, such as Queen Sonja of Norway, French philosopher, playwright and novelist Jean Paul Sartre and many others.

These people had good reason to admire Haraniya.

The village is inhabited by about 6,000 people. It is like a beehive of work that never stops producing some of the world’s finest handmade carpets, rugs and tableaus.

This country’s most talented makers of carpet and rugs have decided to settle in this village for reasons nobody can determine.

Some people attribute the concentration of these professionals in the village to the presence of a large number of schools and centres for teaching the art of carpet-making in it.

Some of the schools of the village are more than seven decades old.

The schools and the teaching centres have played an important role in passing the art of carpet and rug-making on from one generation to another.

The high quality of carpet and rug-making as an art is manifested in the products made by the village’s workers.

These products are usually showcased outside the homes-cum-workshops of the residents of the village so that passersby can watch and buy.

The vast majority of the village’s residents work in carpet and rug-making. This is why most of the homes of the village have been turned into small factories where residents spend their days knotting the materials into carpets and rugs.

Haraniya also has a very low unemployment rate, thanks to carpet-making craft.

All family members – from children to their parents – have a part to play in the carpet-making process.

Some of these family members buy the materials needed from the market; others make the designs, while innovative family members turn these designs into actual works of art.

But this process is far from easy. It takes each working group long hours, sometimes days, to produce a piece.

Nonetheless, visitors to Haraniya can easily purchase magnificent products at bargain prices.

Rug prices range from $3 to $20. Carpets cost between $3 and $50 a metre, depending on the type of material used. Tableaus are more expensive, some selling for $3,000.

Most of the designs are inspired by the village’s surrounding environment. Some of these designs feature pharaohs, ancient temples and the pyramids. Others designs feature scenes from rural Egypt or the river Nile.

One of the reasons for Haraniya’s fame is its proximity to a number of important tourist sites, including the Giza Pyramids and Saqqara which is located only 15 kilometres away.

Saqqara, a vast burial site that served as the necropolis of the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis, attracts a large number of Egyptians and foreign tourists.

Some of the tourists visiting these two areas are keen to visit Haraniya to take some precious handmade products back home with them.

The village’s residents are often seen outside their homes and carpet factories greeting visitors with a warm smile.

Some of them insist to invite tourists in for free tea and coffee.

When she visited the village in October 2006, Queen Sonja of Norway admired the products and was treated to traditional rural Egyptian food, some of the residents of the village say.

To some of the residents of the village, rug and carpet making is a job. To others, however, it is an art they love.

This is why these people put their time, effort and imagination into what they do.