ДЕЦЕНИЈА ИНИЦИЈАТИВЕ. ПОЧЕЦИ ИНСТИТУЦИОНАЛНЕ ПОДРШКЕ ПИРОТСКОМ ЋИЛИМАРСТВУ
A DECADE OF INITIATIVE. THE BEGINNINGS OF INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT FOR PIROT CARPET WEAVING

Summary/Abstract: Pirot carpet weaving in the last decades of the 19th century underwent a complex trajectory between decline and revival. Immediately after the annexation of Pirot to Serbia, state authorities and local initiatives recognized the importance of this craft, and the first steps toward its preservation were taken through the Serbian Agricultural Society and the Women’s Society. Their joint efforts to secure resources, markets, and support for the weavers laid the foundation on which the later organization of production was built. The establishment of the Carpet Society in 1886 marked the culmination of this process, but also the beginning of new challenges: administrative negligence, financial weaknesses, and departures from quality. The difficulties faced by the Society were the result of insufficient commitment of its members to its organizational system, yet the initiatives that were undertaken contributed to achievements that surpassed the local framework. For this reason, the Carpet Society remained a key instrument of state policy, through which production was controlled, the market sustained, and the groundwork for international representation created. The need for such organization was confirmed after successes in Antwerp and Budapest, while participation in the Vienna Exhibition further strengthened the position of the Pirot carpet. The triumph at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1889, crowned with a gold medal, represented the culmination of long-standing efforts and confirmed the reputation of the Society and of the craft itself as a national symbol. Support for women’s creativity and the affirmation of the craft was also provided by Queen Natalija, whose patronage enhanced the prestige of the Women’s Society Bazaar and contributed to the spread of the carpets’ reputation abroad. At the same time, the issue of the economic status of the weavers increasingly came to the fore, representing an important aspect of the sociological image of women as recognized producers, but also a problem whose resolution would remain unfinished for a long time to come. All these institutional, social, and royal initiatives demonstrated that the preservation of this craft tradition was not only a matter of economy, but also of safeguarding cultural identity and representing the nation. Thanks to this combined effort, the Pirot carpet entered the 20th century not as a remnant of the past, but as a recognizable emblem of the durability of domestic culture and as testimony to a persistent endeavor to preserve and promote folk creativity.

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