Monabat-kari:
Timeless beauty of traditional art in Abadeh
Abadeh, a city located in Fars Province, is renowned for its rich historical and cultural heritage, boasting numerous attractions of significance.
The residents of Abadeh possess remarkable artistic skills and are capable of producing a wide variety of handicrafts. One particularly renowned craft of the city is monabat-kari, which involves intricate wood carving and has a long and ancient history.
The exquisite monabat-kari masterpieces adorning the Marmar Palace (Iran Art Museum) in Tehran were expertly crafted by renowned artists, including the esteemed master Ahmad Amami, hailing from Abadeh.
In order to shed light on this precious form of art, an interview was conducted by ISNA with Behzad Ahmadi Farsani, the deputy head of Fars Province’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Organization.
He said that there are 44 world craft cities in the world and, luckily, 11 of them are in Iran, with two of them located in Fars Province. Abadeh is the World Craft City of Wood Carving, and it has been registered by UNESCO since 2018.
He said the Secretariat of the World Craft City of Wood Carving has been set up in the old building of Abadeh’s City Council, serving as a hub for promoting, advancing, and providing educational classes in the art of wood carving.
“Several educational wood-carving workshops have been organized, and we have provided support to a group of individuals. Additionally, the woodcarvers from this city have been offered a free pavilion at the Tehran Handicrafts Exhibition,” he said.
The symbol of wood carving has been placed at the entrance of Abadeh and its boulevards.
Highlighting that the market demand is the primary hurdle for handicraft industries in the province, he said that, unfortunately, all branches of handicrafts are grappling with sales challenges, and we aspire to find a prompt solution to this problem.
He highlighted the presence of 10 collective wood carving workshops in the city, along with the issuance of approximately 4,000 individual wood carving licenses. Additionally, he revealed that an estimated 1,300 women are passionately involved in creating wood carving masterpieces in this city.