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Closing ceremony of III Maiden Tower International Art Festival was held in Kichik Karvansara in Icherisheher, May 19.

The ceremony was attended by First Lady of Azerbaijan, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva and Vice President of the Foundation Leyla Aliyeva.

The Festival, a special contribution to the intercultural dialogue, has been organized since 2010 by Icherisheher State Historical-Architectural Reserve Office, the Museum of Modern Art and Gyz Galasy Art Gallery at the initiative of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.

The Art Festival is held with the view of promoting the Maiden Tower, which has been included into UNESCO’s World Heritage List and is considered the symbol of the capital. Over 30 famous artists from 24 countries participated in the Festival. They decorated little models of the tower with national ornaments and created works reflecting synthesis and mutual exchange of various cultures and traditions.

Unlike previous festivals, within IDEA environmental campaign the gazelle models were also prepared and presented in order to draw attention to the "Caucasus five". This aims to raise international awareness about this rare animal in Azerbaijan. The models were decorated by artists having participated in previous festivals, who are considered the Festivals’ friends.

Mrs Mehriban Aliyeva`s and Leyla Aliyeva`s works in the exhibition were highly assessed by the attendees.

Closely familiarized with the works exhibited, Mrs Mehriban Aliyeva was informed the participation of artists from different countries in the Festival enlarges its geography and strengthens the intercultural dialogue.

The authors informed Mrs Mehriban Aliyeva about the idea of their works.

Vice President of Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mrs Leyla Aliyeva addressed the event:

Ladies and gentlemen!

Dear friends!

First of all, I greet you in our beautiful city Baku. Welcome to “Great Five” exhibition held as part of III Maiden Tower International Art Festival.

We have been holding this festival for 3 years. This festival, which is a huge success, shows Baku residents the works by various artists from different countries of the world.

Today we are exhibiting here gazelle, one of the most beautiful and endangered animal in Azerbaijan and South Caucasus. “Great Five” exhibition has been organized to attract attention to the endangered animals in Azerbaijan and in the region.

IDEA Campaign has included endangered bear, eagle, wolf, gazelle and Caucasian leopard in “Great Five”. Today we are using a gazelle as a sample of these endangered animals. Gazelle has always symbolized beauty and tenderness in magical tales and music of Azerbaijan. Heydar Aliyev Foundation and Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology have accomplished the project to return gazelles to their natural habitat. As IDEA, we decided to demonstrate more creative and artful approach to this project.

As you know, IDEA Campaign was founded about a year ago. For this time we have performed lots of projects to protect environment and gained very good results.

Half an hour ago we launched the resource center in the Public Administration Academy. This center will allow people to carry out studies on environment.

Another interesting project of IDEA is realized here, in front of ancient Maiden Tower. During the restoration at Maiden Tower, we discovered nests of a swift birds migrating from Africa to Azerbaijan. IDEA Campaign together with Icherisheher State Historical-Architectural Reserve Office built alternative nests for these birds. With great pleasure I inform that the birds have moved to their new nests.

Dear friends, today, 23 artists from varied countries of the globe and Azerbaijan participate here. I know some of them, who have already participated in Maiden Tower Festival. Some of them are professional, some amateur artists loving art like me.

I find this festival very successful. Because it allows artists from various countries to give each other the message of love, peace and mutual understanding. And this message completely conforms to the slogan of our IDEA Campaign: “One Planet-One Future”

I thank you all for attending this exhibition. This exhibition will be held in Baku for certain time. We plan to hold this exhibition in different countries as well.

I express gratitude to everyone, who helped organize the exhibition, particularly to artists. To me, you really have done a nice job.

Once again thank you so much for coming to Baku. I hope you will enjoy being in our beautiful town. I wish you all health, happiness and love.

X X X

The event featured a video on III Maiden Tower International Art Festival.

Expressing gratitude to Heydar Aliyev Foundation for the support to the implementation of an important project, artist from Kuwait Suraya Albagsami and craftsman from UAE Talal Moualla expressed pleasure of attending such a festival in Baku. They noted Baku is not the land of oil only, but also the real center of culture and art in the globe.

Another distinctive feature of this year’s festival was a video-mapping technology presented on Maiden Tower.

In the closing ceremony of the Festival, Maiden Tower reflected colorful images via the projection of Maiden Tower models created in the previous festivals according to the architecture of the monument. Modern post-production video techs were used for this purpose. To cover the surface of Maiden Tower with the 360º images, the monument was projected from 7 varied points with 30 projectors.

This show will be on till May 29.