Armenian Orphan Rug goes on public view at White House Visitor Center

Washington — After long decades in storage, the Armenian Orphan Rug, also known as the Ghazir Rug, went on public view Tuesday at the White House Visitor Center, launching a week-long exhibit of historic gifts presented to U.S. presidents in gratitude for American humanitarian aid.

The opening was marked by a congressional press conference hosted by Representatives Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and David Valadao (R-Calif.), joined by other lawmakers and Armenian American organizations. Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), visited the display ahead of the event and praised the decision to exhibit the rug as a testament to U.S.

generosity that aided hundreds of thousands of survivors of the Armenian Genocide. He also criticized the display’s description, calling it evasive and euphemistic and saying it deprives the work of art of its moral and historical meaning and denies viewers the chance to learn about the genocide and draw lessons to prevent future atrocities.

Hamparian thanked members of Congress who pressed for the display and said ANCA remains troubled that, on the eve of the Armenian Genocide Centennial, Turkey’s gag rule is still in force, adding that the group remains committed to a truthful and just international resolution.

ANCA joined Representatives Judy Chu (D-Calif.), David Cicilline (D-R.I.), Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), Jim Costa (D-Calif.), James McGovern (D-Mass.) and John Sarbanes (D-Md.), along with the Armenian Assembly of America and the Armenian Rug Society, at the press conference.

Following congressional pressure and a nationwide Armenian American grassroots campaign to secure its release, the White House agreed to display the rug, which was woven by orphan survivors of the Armenian Genocide and presented to President Calvin Coolidge in 1925 in appreciation for U.S.

humanitarian assistance following Turkey’s mass murder of over 1.5 million Armenians and other Christians.

The exhibit, titled Thank you to the United States: Three Gifts to Presidents in Gratitude for American Generosity Abroad, features three artifacts: the Ghazir rug; a Sèvres vase given to President Herbert Hoover in recognition of feeding children in post-World War I France; and Flowering Branches in Lucite, presented to President Barack Obama after American support for the people of Japan following the 2010 earthquake and tsunami.

The Armenian Orphan Rug measures 11 feet 7 inches by 18 feet 5 inches and contains 4,404,206 individual knots.

It was woven over 10 months by Armenian girls at the Near East Relief orphanage in Ghazir and delivered to President Coolidge on December 4, 1925, in time for Christmas, with a label on the back reading: 'IN GOLDEN RULE GRATITUDE TO PRESIDENT COOLIDGE.' The exhibit runs from November 18 to 23 at the White House Visitor Center, 1450 Pennsylvania Ave.

NW, Washington, DC, and is open to the public daily from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.