Khamsa

The prominent poet and philosopher Nizami Ganjavi lived and worked through the latter half of the 12th century in Ganja, in the ancient city of Azerbaijan. An outstanding representative of both oriental and global Renaissance, Nizami gained fame around the world as the  creator of “Khamsa” (the Quintet), the quintessence of the world literature and philosophy.The aesthetic power of his poetry was the source of inspiration for medieval Oriental artists. Drawings with plots from Nizami’s works would decorate books, carpets, palace walls and residences, weapons and tableware. The world’s top museums preserve miniatures and ornamental artworks based on motifs from “Khamsa” by the most illustrious artists of the Muslim Orient. In the silk scraves dedicated to Nizami’s “Khamsa”, you can see in the center the quoates of the great writer or the depiction of the Nizami mausoleum, and various miniature scenes based on motifs from the “Khamsa ” poems around it.