Description

Gheorghe Mardare studies old Romanian carpets from Bessarabia. He asks what their patterns may have kept alive. Do they show a distinct European way of making art? He looks at the art in these designs. He also asks what ideas about life they express.

This art study is for readers drawn to carpets. It also speaks to those who study Europe's cultural past. Mardare draws on two decades of work on these designs. He looks at how Oriental carpets spread across Europe. This took place from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries. These carpets helped shape Europe's tastes. Scholars link their designs to ancient nomadic cultures. These were groups whose way of life meant moving from place to place.

What remains of Europe's own Stone Age and Copper Age forms of ornament? Mardare uses carpets from Bessarabia to explore this question. Few people across Europe still know these carpets. He points to gaps in Europe's grasp of its spiritual past. His view includes Romania's past, too.