International Art Exhibition KÜKNAR opens in Baku

By Vestnik Kavkaza

Azerbaijan is preparing to celebrate New Year's Eve and the Day of Solidarity of the Azerbaijanis of the World. From December 31st to January 5th – holidays in Azerbaijan – “Azerigas” of SOCAR will work in a heavy regime so that it will be warm and festive in all houses. Railway services will work more intensively as well. Considering the heavy load of railways during holidays, internal trains will have more cars. Depending on the amount of passengers, one train will have from 10-15 to 20-30 cars. One of the tourist trains will run the Baku-Tbilisi-Baku route, starting on December 29th. Azerbaijan expects a big volume of tourists, even though room prices are high and almost all hotels are full. Many people want to spend New Year's Eve in the Shakhdag mountain tourist complex, which is extremely popular.

To feel the New Year atmosphere, one should visit the park of the Heydar Aliyev Center, where the International Art Exhibition KÜKNAR opened.

Symbols of the New Year holidays are gathered in the exhibition – Christmas trees and giant Christmas balls, which are actual modern art masterpieces. About thirty Christmas trees were mounted in the park. Authors from Azerbaijan and other countries created a dozen Christmas trees exclusively for the exhibition. Masters of Christmas-tree decorations came from Japan, Slovenia and Uzbekistan.

Authors of three Christmas trees, who win a contest of Christmas trees last year, were awarded as part of the project.

It is interesting that the exhibition presented not only works by well-known designers, but also promising young artists, sculptors, and illustrators from the Azerbaijani State Art Academy.

Last year about twenty items were exhibited at the International Art Exhibition and Contest KÜKNAR. Viewers loved them very much, and this year they were presented again.

The initiators of the project hope to contribute to the development of culture and modern art, following customs and traditions and creating a festive atmosphere for the New Year holidays.

Entrance is free, and many young people came to the opening ceremony. They danced, made pictures and ate sweets. The Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Leila Aliyeva, as well as Petr Sheremetyev, Huguyet Sheremetyeva and Collette Tolstaya visited the opening ceremony.